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Eric Stansloski Memorial Fund |
The Eric Stansloski Memorial Fund was established by friends of Eric Stansloski, an avid angler and outdoorsman, now deceased. The Fund was donated to our Cheyenne Mountain Chapter, the proceeds from which are to be administered in ways consistent with Eric’s values and Trout Unlimited’s mission.
Since the income from endowments is modest at best these days, the Chapter augmented the income from the Fund with a contribution from its own general fund in order to make a meaningful grant.
The Cheyenne Mountain Chapter of TU made its first grant from the Eric Stansloski Memorial Fund to Anthony Surage. Mr. Surage, one of our members, formerly a middle-school science teacher and currently school counselor at Talbott Elementary School in district #3, has for several years been taking school-children, 12 at a time, fly fishing in Eleven-Mile Canyon. Currently, four to five times each year, he takes a different dozen 5th-graders into the Canyon and introduces them to the sport. To outfit them he has begged, borrowed and dug up cast off waders, rods, reels and lines, and ponied up leaders, flies, split shot and what have you from his own pocket.
Prior to each excursion, as well as on the stream, he talks with the kids about conservation of our natural resources in general as well as certain particular matters, such as instream flows and catch-and-release fishing, in ways appropriate to their age (they ain’t awfully sophisticated at age 10). Thence to the river where the kids are taught roll casting and nymph drifting and , by golly, darned if some of them don’t land fish in the midst of a lot of conflicting and excited coaching from their peers. It is a sight to behold these miniature anglers, lost in old patched waders, each convinced he or she will catch the biggest one, and doing surprisingly well.
Impressed by his dedication and persuaded that, with decent tools, kids will learn more quickly and with less avoidable frustration, our TU chapter granted Mr. Surage $500 in aid of improving his equipment situation.
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