Exciting things have been happening at Fishstrong. To start the year off, we were officially approved as a 501c3 non-profit organization. The board approved over $20,000 in assistance and scholarships for our applicants during the 2017 fiscal year and still had funds to help more applicants as they apply. To date we have now helped with almost $60,000 in assistance and none of this would be possible without our wonderful supporters and volunteers. As some of you may have noticed, the website is taking on some changes. We have added our volunteer information page, as well as our events page. We would like to give a recap of the past year so that everyone will be all caught up. In 2017, we added several events and we are so excited to be continuing these events this year. In the spring, we added our 1st Annual Easter Egg hunt. This gave an opportunity for the community to come together for a safe and fun family event where they could win lots of great prizes. We also had another successful year with our organic garden and partnered up with a local restaurant to provide them with fresh locally grown vegetables and are looking forward to providing this service again this year. In the fall we added an exciting new attraction to our Fish or Treat event and also changed the name of the hayride attraction. The haunted hayride is now called Fishstrong Fright Nights and this year we teamed up with the Dead End Trail to add a terrifying walking trail experience. This was the best season to date for this event. We had over 300 volunteers at different times come out to help us in our spooky happenings. The event helped us raise around $20,000 that we in turn use to help our recipients. We finished the year off with our annual Fishmas event. We added an interactive lighted hayride and we received great reviews. Being that it was the first operating year we did not turn a huge profit from this event but we are very optimistic of the success it will have in years to come. Another exciting partnership that has happened this year is the team up between Fishstong and The Rockin' Game Party. December saw our first ever co-hosted festival and that was a huge success with local vendors and crafters and even Santa! For the first time ever we sold out of tress at both of our lots in just over two weeks. By the time the Festival was held on December 16, we only had 4 trees left! Overall the winter events brought in a little over $10,000. Over all it was a very successful year for the foundation and we are looking forward to all of the great things to come in 2018. Please keep an eye on our event tab and on our Facebook for all of the exciting things to come!
