Youth Mentorship Program Seeks Volunteers

by Kevin Wier
Like many of you, some of my favorite moments in fly fishing haven’t involved me catching a fish, but rather helping family and friends to catch a fish on a fly rod.  One of my favorite memories is the day I helped both of my daughters get their first trout on a fly rod.  However, a close second has been getting other young people their first fish on a fly through my involvement with the Foster the Outdoors Mentor Program with Minnesota Trout Unlimited.  There’s an undeniable thrill and sense of accomplishment here that you can’t really get anywhere else.
In the most recent MNTU newsletter I chronicled the great season I had last year mentoring a young man named Beckett and his father Chad.  I won’t repeat everything here, but suffice it to say that they were both an absolute pleasure to be with and I consider myself lucky to have spent some quality time with them on the water.  You can see the full article on page 21 here

There are more young people like Beckett out there eager to learn what we have to teach.  We are really hoping to grow this wonderful program and the only way to do that is with more volunteer mentors.  Last year we had a waiting list and unfortunately there were youth who couldn’t benefit from the program.  Please consider becoming a mentor.  I can assure that the time commitment really is minimal (typically just an outing per month throughout the summer) and you’ll be amazed at the tremendous sense of accomplishment you’ll get in return.  Finally, you don’t need to be an “expert” at all, just someone with a little knowledge that they want to share with a youth.
The program kicks off every year with a mentor matchup event in May, followed by outings during the summer months.  There’s a fly tying evening in October and a fly shop tour in January, that’s it.  The 2025 mentor match up event is May 17 9AM-Noon at Lake Phalen Regional Park in St. Paul.  You can register here. Even if you can’t commit to being a mentor, we can always use help at this event and you’ll get to see firsthand the impact of this program. 
Thanks in advance for helping introduce a young person to fly fishing and the outdoors!
Questions?  Contact:
Kevin Wier 612-867-5768
Rich Femling 763-807-5878
Email at: [email protected]
Learn more at our Website https://mntu.org/mentoring