The weather was beautiful for the 14th annual Hills Bassmasters Club Youth Day on Sept. 12 for the benefit of the clients from Arc-Rowan, a Rowan County United Way Agency. The club was assisted by the East Rowan Student Council.
The clients arrived early, full of anticipation and excitement at the idea of catching a fish and having a hot lunch picnic of hamburgers, hot dogs, potato salad and baked beans.
The event each year is sponsored by Terry Hill, owner of the Hills Minnow Farm on Bringle Ferry Road.
All of the clients received an award, with special awards going to Debbie and Rusty, a married couple, for the most weight; to Terry McGeorge for the big fish; and to Jeff Jacobs and Cedric Dry who tied for the most fish.
Both the Arc-Rowan clients and the many volunteers had a great time, but the real story was with Charlotte Cherry, the East Rowan Student Council adviser. There was a miscommunication about the date, and the East Rowan Student Council thought the event was the next Saturday. When called on Wednesday, Cherry said to give her a day to see what she could round up. She e-mailed current and former student council members and had 17 volunteers at the activity, two of them being former graduates, Courtney Frick and Katelyn McCombs.
Without Cherry and her volunteers, the day would have been very rough, since the club prefers to have one volunteer per client.
Cherry will be retiring at the end of this school year and was awarded a special appreciation plaque by the Hills Bassmasters recognizing her as a “godmother and friend” to the club, Arc and the Student Council.
Special assistance and donations were also provided by:
– Powles (Steve, Terry and Will) Funeral Home for the tents;
– Cheerwine (Wayne) for the drinks;
– Flowers (Eric) for the buns;
– North Carolina Wildlife (Tony Sharum) for the fishing packages;
– Myers Septic (Dennis and Benny) for the Port-a-Johns;
– Little Debbie (Keith) for the snacks.
The clients from Arc-Rowan were Cory Kisslinger, Teresa English, Rose James, Melissa Houston, Donny Robinson, Terry McGeorge, Jennifer Jernigan, Jerel Howell, Andrew Stirewalt, Matt Heigh, Diana Ki, Jeff Jacobs, Cedric Dry, Andy Powell, Kevin Collins, Candawee Boger, Benjie Smith, Cindy Pickler, Debbie and Rusty Russell, Larry Young, Tony Walser, Brently Hobbs, Jennifer Creg, Lauren Bolhon and Donald Grable.
The East Rowan Student Council participants were Andrien Poston, Lane Holshouser, Tyler Roseman, Shannah Dixon, Summer Taylor, Armanda Lee, Leuh Leppard, Whitney Boone, Hunter Bell, Lacey Teeter, Corney Frick, Katelyn McCombs, Jordan Warren, Canann Sharris and Reid Lippard.
The Hills Bassmasters also thanked their members and the many other volunteers not listed above who helped to make this a wonderful day for the clients of Arc-Rowan.