YORK COUNTY, Pa. — The annual 24-hour online giving event to benefit hundreds of York County non-profit groups is coming up in May. Over the next few weeks, FOX43 is exploring some of the non-profit groups benefiting from Give Local York.
Groups like the Codorus Chapter of Trout Unlimited benefit from the giving event.
Sometimes the sights and sounds of education can be fishy... and that's the case at Spring Grove High School in York County, thanks to the Codorus Chapter of Trout Unlimited.
"Education is a big thing for us," said Tom Feninez, the director of Codorus Trout Unlimited. "We have the Trout in the Classroom Program."
The Trout in the Classroom Program is exactly what the name suggests. The program provides the tank, pumps, filters and eggs to raise trout in a classroom setting.
"The students get to watch the trout hatch and go through their various stages of development," said Feninez. "They keep them until some time in the spring, around early May, at which point they are a couple of inches long."
At this point, students release the trout into a nearby trout-stocked stream.
"We [went] down to the creek to stock the trout, then we also got in the creek and looked around- under rocks to look for trout's food sources. I think that really helps us understand what's going on with all this," said Spring Grove junior Andrew Eyster.
Through the program, students are able to understand what it takes to have and maintain a healthy trout population in the area now and into the future.
Learning, for the students, begins in the water.
"They do everything," said Spring Grove teacher and trout club advisor Tony Miller. "They do all the water quality [testing]. They understand that this water can't be treated like a normal fish tank, [so] they have to make sure every day that someone is testing the water to make sure the fish survive."
Trout in the Classroom is a statewide initiative in conjunction with the State Fish and Boat Commission. The program is funded by donations and grants. Money raised from Give Local York will help the non-profit keep doing its work.
"We feel like we provide a worthwhile service to the community and it's something we appreciate any kind of support, whether it's from fishermen or general environmentalists or from the public in general," said Feninez.
Spring Grove is one of five area schools the local chapter supports with the project.
In addition to the work with education, the Chapter of Trout Unlimited keeps watch over and cares for the Codorus Creek south of Lake Marburg, as it's done since 1988.
The seventh annual Give Local York Online Giving Event will be held on May 2 and 3.
