$25,000 Goal for Fishing for Friends Mentoring Program Reached! 

Contact:

• James Ehlers, Lake Champlain International, Inc., 802.879.3466
• Kristen Hayden-West, Community Friends Mentoring, 802.488.6650

Burlington, VT — Lake Champlain International, Inc.(LCI), organizer of the LCI Fishing Derbies, presented a check in the amount of $8,222 to HowardCenter for 2008. The donation is part of an ongoing effort to benefit Fishing For Friends—a partnership between Lake Champlain International, Inc. and Community Friends Mentoring, a program of HowardCenter, to connect children with qualified adults through fishing.

“Thank you for your continued support and visibility, which together allow us to sustain and expand the Community Friends Mentoring program. Generosity like LCI’s is not common and is treasured when it is received. We celebrate your vision in honoring the children we serve,” said HowardCenter Executive Director Todd Centybear.

HowardCenter’s Director of Child, Youth & Family Catherine Simonson continued, “Appreciation may be expressed in many ways, but it strikes us that our appreciation of what you and LCI have given HowardCenter may not be easily expressed in words. … We not only appreciate but also are inspired by what you and LCI have done for the Community Friends Mentoring program.”

Lake Champlain International, Inc. (LCI) Board of Directors presents the 2008 check to HowardCenter representatives. Pictured, L-R, Chris Baker, LCI Events Director; James Ehlers, LCI Executive Director; Frank Petrosino, LCI Director;Michael Brigham, LCI President; Jake Perkinson, LCI Vice President; Kristen Hayden-West, HowardCenter Community Friends Director; and Peter McCarthy, Vice President, HowardCenter Board of Trustees.

James Ehlers, Lake Champlain International, Inc.’s executive director, said, “Lake Champlain International, Inc. is pleased to share with those who share the greatest offering—their time with a child. We are proud to carry on the fishing tradition and the camaraderie known to fishing friends with Community Friends Mentoring. We are extremely pleased to have reached our Fishing For Friends fundraising goal of $25,000 so quickly and eager to continue to contribute in the future.”

Fishing For Friends was launched in 2006 to introduce fishing, healthy relationships, and conservation to a new generation of children in need of positive role models. The goal was to recruit 25 anglers to act as mentors for area children and raise the $25,000 necessary for these matches. Since that time Lake Champlain International, Inc. has raised $ 26,837.80. There is still much work to be done, however, in the recruitment of qualified mentors to be matched with children on the waiting list.

Community Friends Mentoring (CFM), a program of HowardCenter, matches caring adult volunteers with children ages 6-12 who would benefit from extra support and attention in their life. The Community Friends Mentoring program, now in its 27th year, supports area children by providing fun, caring mentoring relationships with adult volunteers. Mentoring pairs are carefully matched and then meet regularly to spend time together on their own in the community, sharing activities they both enjoy. CFM is funded by support from the Vermont Foundation for Children and Families, plus grants and private donations, like those from Lake Champlain International, Inc.

The LCI Father’s Day Fishing Derby presented by Yamaha, one of several LCI derbies, is Vermont’s most popular annual fishing event and is America’s oldest largest freshwater derby. Hosted by Lake Champlain International, Inc., the LCI Derbies began in 1982 with the mission of raising money for Lake Champlain conservation. Today the derbies do that, as well as enhance recreational fishing-related tourism activity on the lake while promoting the family tradition of fishing.

A federally recognized 501(c)(3) non-profit corporation located in Colchester, VT, Lake Champlain International, Inc.’s (LCI) mission is the conservation, restoration and revitalization of the Lake Champlain watershed and its communities. It hosts the nearly 30-year old LCI Father's Day Fishing Derby presented by Yamaha, which draws more than 5,500 people from more than 30 states to enjoy Lake Champlain for the weekend. Through that marquee fundraising event and other fishing-related fundraisers, LCI is able to finance their conservation and education programs. They include the Champlain Fisheries Recovery Initiative, the Fishing For Friends mentoring partnership, After-School Fishing Clubs, and the Fish and Flowers Rain Garden program. These programs encourage the current 21,000-plus LCI anglers to actively engage the next generation in carrying on the angling heritage and the conservation ethic it embodies. LCI is on the web at mychamplain.net. For more information on LCI, call 802.879.3466 or email info@mychamplain.net.