Good work deserves recognition.

2010 Silent Auction

As in years past, the Annual Meeting will feature donated items in a Silent Auction, as a fundraiser for the Friends. You can view some of the tastiest items in a slide show.

In addition to those shown in the slide show, these items will also be on the bidding floor:

• Cabela’s gift packet with two $5 certificates & lock-blade knife
• $25 gift certificate from Rusted Moon in Broad Ripple
• Rock Climbing Day Passes at Climb Time on north side
• Center of Science & Industry passes
• Inner Peace Yoga Center Certificate
• 10 tickets, College Football Hall of Fame, South Bend
• Framed watercolor print
• Lunch cooler bag
• Homedics Massage Cushion
• Classic pen set with journals
• White River Fly Selection, custom-tied by C.W. Bottom
• Embroidered FOWR hoodie, size XL
• Colts windbreaker & T-shirt, size XL
• Ceramic Fish Pendant
• Stew Pot package with gourmet soup mixes & 4 soup bowls
• Autographed Bob & Tom CD with Sports Illustrated Calendar Datebook
• Monday Night Football hats, set of 3
• ABC Sports Cap Collection
• Country & Western CD Collection — 5 CDs with case
• Large Cooler Bag w/aluminum water bottles
• Vintage fishing signs
• America’s Wild and Scenic Rivers book with FOWR cap
• Bayou Bill’s Best Stories, autographed by late river resident/columnist & FOWR cap

 

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2009 Annual Meeting

The year began with our annual meeting at the Holliday Park Nature Center, where we elected this year’s slate for the board of directors and enjoyed speakers from the Indiana Department of Natural Resources and the United States Geological Survey. All three speakers focused on the June floods in Southern Indiana, when record rains fell on saturated watersheds that already held swollen waterways.

It was the most expensive natural disaster in Indiana history and led the USGS to produce a comprehensive report on the causes. For those interested, the report and its appendices are available for download in Acrobat PDF format from http://pubs.usgs.gov/of/2008/1322/.

Above: Seven days of rain, most of it in 24 hours, had a devastating impact on much of Southern Indiana. Source: “June 2008 Flooding,” National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, http://www.crh.noaa.gov/ind/?n=june0708flood

 

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2008 Annual Meeting

A capacity crowd attended our 2008 Annual Meeting, held January 10 in the Holliday Park Nature Center. We elected our 2008 Board of Directors, and reported on group activities during 2007 (as detailed in A Busy Season of Service, PDF, 3.2 MB) and outlined plans for 2008. Our Youth Advisory Council also made its first public presentation.

We also presented the 2007 Youth Recruitment Initiatives Award to Butler University for involving faculty and staff in its new Adopt-A-River cleanup program.

From left: Friends founder Karl Glander and board member Neil Myers, both Butler alumns, presented the award to Butler biology Professor Bob Holm and student and YAC member Nicole Dores.

 

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2007 Annual Meeting

Our 2007 Annual Meeting, held January 10 in the Holliday Park Nature Center, drew a crowd of about 100 people for business, pleasure and prizes. We elected our 2007 Board of Directors, and reported on group activities for 2006 and plans for 2007.

And to honor extraordinary efforts on behalf of White River during 2006 (and earlier) by three groups and one individual, we gave unique paddle plaques.

Featured speaker

“Millions of people cross bridges each day with no idea of the adventure, power, and magic that a river offers,” says Jerry Hay, author of Beyond the Bridges, a compendium of “river stories, history and practical information.”

Hay, who has traveled the entire length of nearly every major river east of the Rocky Mountains, recited stories and described how he writes his books, including the children’s book titled Gilligan Goose, which is based on a true story.

Jerry Hay recently retired from his position of Riverlorian for Delta Queen Steamboats of New Orleans and is working on a guide book for the Ohio River.

Hay has a long history with rivers. In 1962, at the age of 15, he set out alone in a canoe and paddled 200 miles of the Wabash. During high school and college, most of his studying was done along the banks of the river. In 1992 he again canoed the Wabash, this time paddling its entire 500 miles. In 1995, he and two friends were the first to ever navigate the entire river in a powerboat. The maps, logs, photos, and journals that he compiled became the well-known Wabash River GuideBook, first published in 1997. In 2002, Hay completed the White River GuideBook, which is a comprehensive guide to the entire East and West Forks of Indiana’s White River.