Restaurateur's donation helps Trout Unlimited fill Trout Pond this year
BY Staff Reports
Sunday, October 14, 2012
10/14/12 at 7:36 AM
After reading that the Trout Pond for Tulsa lacked funding for this winter, restaurateur Richard "Skip" Long of Doe's Eat Place stepped up Thursday with a donation of $2,000 to the local chapter of Trout Unlimited to complete the group's fundraising goal.
"I know a ton of kids who go fishing at that pond," Long said in a phone message left at the Tulsa World. "Tell those guys to get down here and I'll write them a check."
For four years the Trout Pond for Tulsa has been stocked three times each winter at a cost of about $6,000. Oklahoma Trout Unlimited and the Tulsa Fly Fishers have provided $3,000 with a dollar-for-dollar match from NatureWorks to keep the project going.
This year the fishing group was short on money and held a fundraiser for the pond that netted about $1,000. The group needed $2,000 more to maximize the match from NatureWorks and hit the $6,000 goal.
Trout Unlimited Oklahoma president Scott Hood said owners of local restaurant Fassler Hall stepped up to help with last summer's Trout Pond fundraiser and now Long has completed the picture.
"It's wonderful that the owners of these great places are recognizing that it's not just about offering up a place to fish for trout in Tulsa, but about offering a place where dads and moms, aunts and uncles and grandparents can take the children and expose them to the outdoors and to fishing," Hood said.
Hood said he often thinks of his first time catching a trout with his father as he works on the project.
"That is a memory that has lasted over 55 years for me," he said.
Hood said the pond will be managed as it has in years past. Stocking dates will be secret, but roughly timed to coincide with kids-only fishing days at Christmas, President's Day and Spring Break.
While the pond is not reserved solely for minors, adults who use the pond are encouraged to take a child with them when they fish there.
In addition to Doe's Eat Place, Fassler Hall and NatureWorks, the Tulsa County Parks Department helps support the program, providing signage and the fishing pond in The Gardens at LaFortune Park, on the corner of 51st Street and Hudson Avenue, Hood said.
Original Print Headline: Restaurateur helps with donation that will fill Trout Pond
