Green Bay Trout Unlimited | Dec 12: Awards Dinner/Holiday Party Summary

Dec 12: Awards Dinner/Holiday Party Summary

Article written on 2024-12-24 by: Adrian Meseberg

On Thursday, December 12^th, 2024 GBTU held our Annual Awards Dinner/Holiday Party at the Village Grille Events Hall. It was a wonderful evening featuring an all-you-can-eat home-style chicken buffet including baked chicken mashed potatoes, gravy, vegetable or baked beans, coleslaw, cranberry sauce, fresh bread w butter and assorted dessert bars. Once dinner was finished we presented our 2024 awards. The evening commenced with a drawing for around a dozen Christmas-themed door prizes. 30-35 guests came out to help celebrate.

For 2024 we recognized six amazing recipients in three award categories.

President’s Club: This award is commonly given to a “newer” member who has demonstrated a high level of activity within the chapter. Historically, this recognition has also been associated with work project participation. This award comes with a GBTU personalized clothing item of the individual’s choosing.

Dave Purnell

Dave is a recent member of GBTU having joined in 2023. Prior to our April 2024 elections, Dave expressed interest in serving the chapter in a leadership role. Dave was voted as a GBTU representative to the Brown County Conservation Alliance this year.

Jacob Dixon

Like Dave, Jacob is a new member who expressed immediate interest in serving as a chapter leader. Jacob joined GBTU in 2024. He was voted as an alternate representative to the Brown County Conservation Alliance. Jacob has since stepped into a much-needed role as a silent auction volunteer for our Conservation Committee.

Kevin Maes

Kevin first joined TU in 2020. After serving on the board of directors for the chapter of TU that includes Madison, Kevin moved to the Green Bay area, attended a trout trail work project, and decided he wanted to be part of our leadership team. At our April elections, Kevin was voted onto the GBTU board of directors. In the past year, Kevin has shown an active interest in helping book guest speakers and serving as a contact point for our Trout-in-the-Classroom program (which is currently being ran in three area schools).

Distinguished Service: For undying contributions giving freely of time, money, and talent for many years.

Jeff House

It is very hard to understate the importance of Jeff’s role with Green Bay TU. While he has been a long-time member of the GBTU, Jeff decided to go all in and became a life member in 2020. Over the past several years Jeff has become such a regular at work projects, that attendees are surprised when they DON’T see him on a habitat improvement day! Jeff served as chapter treasurer during a very challenging time a few years ago. Because of his steady hand, patience, and talent, GBTU pulled through stronger than ever. Jeff has also been a very generous donor towards our mission to protect, conserve, restore, & reconnect our coldwater fisheries. If you know someone who has left our Conservation Banquet with a fishing kayak…they have Jeff to thank 😊

Dave Ostanek

It may be easier to say what Dave hasn’t done for the chapter in the past dozen years. Dave has been a GBTU member since 2012. He is a long-serving, active member of our Board of Directors. He has been the GBTU Education Director since joining the Board many years ago. Dave has been the man in charge of countless youth activities including Kids Fishing Day (which our chapter has been part of for over 30 years) to Take-a-Kid-Fishing Day (which hosts hundreds of youths each year). Dave has been the main reason our chapter has been able to send several youths to various camps including Pine Lake (early in his educational chair role) and, more recently, the WI State TU Youth Camp. Dave is responsible for our chapter being part of the Women’s Outdoor Workshop…a day that is dedicated to teaching women various outdoor activities. For many years Dave has been extremely active at work projects, serves a major role on our banquet committee, and has generously donated to our fundraiser.

Member of the Year: An individual who has demonstrated outstanding efforts over the past year.

Jim Hauer

Jim joined TU over two decades ago in 2003, but it’s what Jim has done recently that has really set him apart for this recognition. Jim has been a lead co-coordinator of the GBTU Veteran’s Service Program (VSP) for around two years now. What Jim has helped do with this program cannot be understated. The GBTU VSP program serves area veterans interested in fly fishing (and socializing 😊). Our VSP group holds bi-monthly veteran fly-tying from October through May. Veterans are taken on monthly fishing trips from June through September.

Earlier this year we found out the GBTU VSP program is also being recognized by TU National. Sarah Knobel (Donor Communications Manager, TU National) reached out sharing highlights from six chapters nation-wide. GBTU’s veteran’s program was among them. Together we came up with a summary Sarah called “a great feature” which National would like to use in their Annual Report, Case for Support, etc. According to TU National, GBTU has one of the top TU veterans service programs in the country. Jim’s belief and commitment to our veterans is a major reason for the program’s unprecedented success. We couldn’t be prouder to have a person of Jim’s character and conviction on our side.

A big thanks to everyone who came out and made it an wonderful evening !