Syracuse.com - Bass Pro Shops raises $5,000 in donations to help out Carpenter's Brook Fish Hatchery

[HuntingNY-News]

The store has been conducting the fundraiser for the past five years. This is the most money raised to date

AURELIUS, N.Y. -- The Bass Pro Shops store in the Fingerlakes Mall raised more than $5,000 in donations from customers during the month of March that will go toward the Carpenter's Brook Fish Hatchery in Elbridge.

This is the fifth year the store has held the fundraiser. The money was raised at the store's checkout lines, where cashiers ask customers last month if they wanted to donate to the hatchery. A total of $5,011 was raised, the largest amount to date.

"We more than doubled last year's donations," said Mark Kratz, who manages the store's fishing department. He said the fundraiser was started at the time when the Onondaga County Legislature was considering closing the hatchery.

"The money will go to the Friends of the Carpenter's Brook Fish Hatchery group, which will use it for things like youth fishing programs," he said.

Kratz said donations were spurred along by a friendly competition among the store's managers. During one weekend, Kratz told his fellow managers if more than $1,000 was raised he'd jump into a trout pond that was set up in the store at the time. A total of $1,500 was raised and Kratz was joined in the pond the following Monday by Bob Ryan, the store's operations manager.

Last weekend, the store's cashiers vied to see who could get the most donations. The top three finishers are scheduled Friday morning to put a pie in the face of Dan Griffin, the store's general manager in training as a reward.

View the full article on The Syracuse Outdoors Blog