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After a busy morning of untangling lines, pulling kids from eminent soaking by immersion in the fish pond, and working at a frantic pace because there were too many kids for the number of adults working with them, I would have to proclaim the Kiwanis Disadvantaged Kids Fishing Rodeo one of the most rewarding activities I've done in quite some time. For all the things that went wrong, there were some precious moments that were proof to me that taking a kid fishing is just a great thing to do.

Chapter 308 members who gave a hand at the event were Manly Aylor, Anke Loberg, Hans Loberg, Dave Thompson, Dave Vecellio, Bayes Wilson, Jon Wilson, Patty Vipperman (Chapter member for the day), and myself. Manly and I are also Kiwanis members. Quite frankly, without the additional presence of Chapter members, the event was going to be in a bit of trouble. We had 65 kids and only about 15 pondside helpers. To be fair to the kids, I would think that we needed 30 or so people with the kids, in addition to those very busy people who cleaned the fish, fixed inoperable rods and reels, and some of the other logistical operations that were going on during the fishing period. After the fishing, everyone, including many of the Baptist Children's Home staff, was treated to a cookout lunch. Then, the kids were presented certificates, given their cleaned fish, and sent on their way. All told, we had almost 50 Kiwanis and TU people working on this project.

I would like to thank everyone who helped out, but I would like to especially single out my wife Patty as my heroine for the day. While we typically worked with 4 to 7 kids in fishing, she ran like crazy, taking fish to the cleaning station as they were caught (4 of my kids caught at least 4 fish each), running for bait as we needed it, holding rods while I untangled lines, breaking night crawlers so I could bait hooks, and a myriad of other things. There is no way that I could have functioned without her. I might mention that Patty has not been fishing with me in 43 years. But, today she did all that she could because she saw what the event meant to those kids. She worked her butt off, but she had fun!! We had a lot of hugs and high fives. The kids had fun! WE had fun! That's what it was all about. Patty and I wouldn't have missed it for the world. I just hope the other chapter members enjoyed the day as much as we did.

The downside of the day was that a number of kids didn't catch fish because there was no one to help them.

KIDS FISHING DERBY AT WAID PARK IN FRANKLIN COUNTY

HERITAGE DAY, SATURDAY, APRIL 1

The Roanoke Chapter of TU was represented by Patrick Klingensmith and Anke and Hans Loberg at Waid Park. The county provided a table where we had TU handouts of brochures, etc. with the Trout issue of Virginia Wildlife being the hot "seller". We demonstrated some simple fly tying and Pat did a great job giving several kids casting lessons in spite of a nasty wind and a badly busted up knee resulting from a snow board accident. The Kids fishing contest started at 9:00am with 150 registered participants and 2000 stocked trout. The stretch along the park was clearly marked "Reserved for Kids", but the regular crowd of inconsiderate grown-ups busted in to grab many of the better spots. Still, the kids had a great time catching plenty of nice size trout. The weighing and measuring station was located next to the TU table and during the contest Anke observed a small boy proudly carrying a large trout up to be measured. As one of the officials took the trout and gave it a couple of whacks with a "priest" the boy exclaimed: "That's my fish, I was going to keep it as a pet and you killed it!" As he left the station he said to another boy approaching with a trout: "You better watch out. They are clubbing them to death!" At 11:00am the fishing contest ended and pizza and soft drinks was served.

Hans Loberg

Editors Note - Many thanks to Anke, Hans, and Patrick for representing us so well at this event.