NEWS & STORIES
Anchorage Program Announces 2019 Participant and Volunteer of the Year Awards
By Leslie Holland-Bartels
On December 13, 2019 the Anchorage Program of Project Healing Waters Fly Fishing announced the selection of Ken Smith as Participant of the Year and Charlie Hune as Volunteer of the Year at the Program’s annual Holiday Awards Dinner.
Ken Smith has been an active and engaged participant since joining the program in 2017. In 2019 over fifteen participants signed up the rod building program, which exceeded available equipment. Ken stepped up and pulled out all the stops to build new jigs out of high quality countertop material that also included tensioned line guides using ice fishing rod tips. These jigs were presented as a surprise to the Program! They have made learning thread work so much easier for our beginner builders. Thanks you Ken for always being fun and positive and bringing so much to your fellow participants and volunteers!
Ken Smith tying a fly
Charlie Hune has been volunteering as an expert fly tying instructor since 2016 enjoying helping participants interested in fly tying competition efforts. In addition, this year he helped organize instructional materials and supplies for our 36-week tying session. Over the busy summer Charlie often took over program lead site responsibilities making sure the room was set up, materials ready, and that everything was safely closed up at session end. His selfless teamwork to help participants and other volunteers is recognized by the 2019 Anchorage Volunteer of the Year Award.
Charlie Hune demonstrating a fly
Wishing Everyone a Happy Holiday Season!
