November, a time of beginnings and ends

November: A Time of Beginnings and Ends

November 11th marks for me my 9th anniversary working for Trout Unlimited. I moved across the country for the job in Arlington, Virginia, because I was lucky enough to get a shot at my dream job. A spry, eager and slightly nervous younger version of myself showed up to work that first day to… a dark office and a locked door. Yep. Little did I know, November 11th also marks Veterans Day, which happens to be a holiday for TU staff. It turns out, there was a lot I didn’t know, including just how much this day, Veterans Day, would come to mean to me nine years later.

Yes, I landed my dream job and for these last nine years I’ve had the great pleasure working with some of the greatest people in this country, volunteers. As I mentioned, my time at TU has been an enormous education for me. Volunteers have provided the bulk of that education. I’ve learned, for example, that a TU chapter is so much more than a place where folks gather to plan a stream clean up and talk about fishing. It is a place where community is forged and where our mission comes to life. Mick McCorcle, the Chair of the National Leadership Council, shares with us so many great examples of this in his Annual State of the Grassroots address. Take a look.

The organization as a whole also continues to learn from volunteers and from chapters. As an example, nine years ago, we had no national veterans service program to speak of. In that time, we looked around the country and noticed that many of our chapters were engaging with partners in order to bring veterans and their families into the TU community locally and often to help them find healing through angling. If you’ve seen it first hand, you know what I mean. It’s that magic that happens when the trauma disappears as the trout start rising. It’s that peace we all find from being on a pristine, coldwater stream. Or it’s that veteran who participated in a chapter veterans service event years ago that now returns to teach it. It’s healing and it’s community, and it’s so very impactful.

So, taking our que from volunteers, about five years ago we formed the Veterans Service Partnership (VSP,) in order to bring together resources for TU’s chapters that wish to engage in this effort. In that time, we have been building on TU’s niche – the fact that we have 400 local chapters that can provide to veterans a community for sustaining support and ongoing opportunities to find healing through fishing with friends.

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November marks the change between seasons. And for me, it also marks the change of many beginnings and ends at TU. For the last five years, the VSP had been under the leadership of Alan Folger, who tomorrow will ring in his last official day on the TU staff. TU will always be indebted to Alan for his leadership of the Veterans Service Partnership. Dave Kumlien, who had previously served in a part-time capacity as our Western Coordinator for the VSP, will move into a full-time role and will work on the national-level to help chapters implement VSP programs.

(Pictured here: Warren Phillips (left), Chair of TU's Veterans Service Advisory Committee and Alan Folger.)

And, of course, November is also that great American holiday, Veterans Day. This is our opportunity every year to formally take some time and honor and thank some of the greatest people in this country. To me, that’s veterans, active duty military, and their families, and it’s also the TU volunteers who are providing community and healing for them at home. We honor and thank you all this Veterans Day. For more information about how your chapter can host the TU Veterans Service Partnership, visit tu.org/veterans or contact Dave Kumlien at dkumlien@tu.org.

Sincerely,

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Beverly Smith, VP for Volunteer Operations

TROUT UNLIMITED