Harlee Lassell stood at the edge of Ruddles Run in Jim Thorpe. Freshly stocked trout swam close by, and the 8-year-old wanted one on her line.
“I think if we cheer for it, we're gonna get the big one,” said Patrick Rodgers, who helped the Towamensing Elementary School second grader during the 70th annual Special Needs Fishing Derby on Thursday.
“When I say ‘big,’ you say ‘fish,’” he said.
“Big… fish… big… fish!”
It worked within seconds.
“That’s the biggest fish!” Harlee said, squirming a little as she held her trout.
Rodgers’ dad, Philip Rodgers, started the fishing derby seven decades ago. The bricklayer and father of 10 cared deeply for those with special needs. He invited children to his lush property along the waterway, also known as Silkmill Run.
Back then, children with special needs were not often included in traditional classrooms, and instead went to the Bevan School in Jim Thorpe. Rodgers would invite the children from the school to the derby.
Now, over the course of two days, more than 250 children from schools throughout Carbon County visit the property, now the home of the Germantown Grove Club.
“He was always a caring guy,” Mary Rodgers Marzen, one of his daughters, said Thursday. “He always looked to help somebody else.”
Her father died in 2006 at the age of 82. Nearly 20 years later, a team of family and volunteers help the event grow each year.
“My dad was such a big part of this, and it's a wonderful legacy that something like this continues,” said his son, Philip Rogers, who lives in Pottsville. “There's a lot of joy and happiness, which the world needs.”
Joe Shigo, a member of the grove club, sat at a table, filleting children’s catches. Organizers stocked the waterway with 1,000 trout before the event. Each child can take three filleted fish home, and teachers come prepared with coolers.
“It's just to see the smiles on the kids' faces and see what a good time they're all having,” Shigo said, as he filleted brook, brown, rainbow and tiger trout. “I've probably done about 10,000 or so over the years.”
Volunteers, including those from American Legion Post 304, helped place worms on hooks and offered assistance when it was time to reel in the catch.
“It's an amazing event for the kids. A lot of kids, it's the first time they ever get to fish. It's sometimes the only time they get to fish,” said the post’s Commander, Keith McQuait. “Everybody's willing to donate towards it and donate their time.”
During the event, the Carbon County Community Foundation announced the creation of the Phil Rodgers Memorial Scholarship, established by the Germantown Grove Club. The $500 scholarship will be awarded to a Carbon County student who will study special education or rehab therapies. Carbon County commissioners congratulated the family and volunteers on 70 years of making a difference in the community.
Students from the L.B. Morris School in Jim Thorpe waited in line under the filet tents.
“I got three fish in the bag, and I went fishing two times,” said Kayden Guess, 9.
Ben Healey, 10, looked forward to eating his catch.
“I used the fishing rod, obviously, and a worm on there,” he said. “I got rainbow trout.”
