The May General Meeting is on May 20th at Sheridan Center 680 Lebo Blvd, Bremerton. Doors open at 6:30pm, meeting begins at 7:00pm.

Agenda items include:

• Manchester Elementary STEAM night (5/8)
• Salmon in the Classroom
• Summer Salmon derby
• Washington State Youth Conservation Camp
• May presentation: Tom Coleman on the relationship between beavers and salmon habitat
• Kitsap County Fair booth
• Kitsap Water Festival
• Kid’s Fishing Party
• Hatchery volunteering
• Poggie Merch
• Summer Picnic
• Camp Easter Seals

Manchester Elementary STEAM night: We’ve had a good time doing STEAM nights at Olalla, Sidney Glen and Manchester Elementary schools recent STEAM nights. We usually have fly tying and rod building supplies and the kids love the fly tying.

Salmon in the Classroom: South Kitsap School District shared these nice words thanking us for our efforts:

Thanks to Russ Halstead for leading the effort to onboard Mullenix Elementary school for the 2025-26 school year! They are also very excited to get started. 

We are in the procurement process to setup aquariums for two additional schools in 2025-26, which would bring our total to seven Salmon in the Classroom schools. 

Summer Salmon Derby:The summer salmon derby is on 7/19/2025 with a weigh-in station at Brownsville Marina. 

We are still looking for sponsors/donations for the prize pool. Please e-mail kitsappoggieclub@gmail.com if you have any leads or would like to donate. 

Online ticket sales should be setup by 6/19/2025. 

Washington State Youth Conservation Camp:We are sponsoring 4 scholarships for the summer Washington State Youth Conservation camp. If you have a youth who would be interested in the experience, contact Ron Kirkland at 360.633.0637. 

The dates for the conservation camp are:

• Boys camp: July 20-26th
• Girls camp: July 27-August 2nd

May presentation: Tom Coleman facilitates a group sharing a common interest in the Little Anderson Creek Watershed in Seabeck. Tom is planning to bring some friends and give a presentation on the relationship between beavers and salmon habitat. We will have some pizzas, please BYOB.

Kitsap County Fair booth: We are hosting a booth at the Kitsap County Fair which is scheduled for August 20th-24th, 2025. This is a great opportunity to recruit members and gain exposure in the community. Our booth will be indoors and we will need several volunteers to work the booth during the fair. 

Kitsap Water Festival:Thank you to the seven Poggies who volunteered at Kitsap Water Festival. We had four groups of 20-30 students each visit our booth. We played the Salmon Lifecycle Game along with showing an aquarium full of salmon fry which Gorst Hatchery graciously allowed us to borrow for the event. 

Kid’s Fishing Party: We counted 356 kids at the registration booth. 

We are in the process of following up with people who answered “Yes” to being interested in Poggie membership. 

Thank you to these local businesses who donated drinks and snacks for the event:

• Grocery Outlet
• Lone Star 
• Larry and Christy’s 
• Frans
• Poulsbo Walmart

Hatchery Volunteering: Summer is a busy time as several Poggies volunteer at the Suquamish Hatcheries at Gorst and Grovers Creeks. While we are very grateful to Poggie Norm Reinhardt for coordinating these volunteer efforts in years past, we will need other Poggies to step up and continue the work of volunteering and volunteer coordination with the hatcheries. 

The tribes do require a background check in order to volunteer, so if you’d like to get involved please sign up at a general meeting or email kitsappoggieclub@gmail.com.

Poggie Merch:We are currently out of stock for Poggie hats and working on a new order. We apologize for any inconvenience. 

Several Poggies have also expressed interest in the Poggie Jackets. Since those are custom ordered, please contact kitsappoggieclub@gmail.com if you are interested in getting a Poggie Jacket. 

Summer Picnic:August 31st, 2025 at Otto Jarstad Park. Gates open at 9am, picnic starts at 10am and runs into afternoon. This event is a potluck so please bring a dish to share. As usual, we will have a silent auction and are always open to donation items for the auction.

Camp Easter Seals:We will need volunteers to take fishing trips with campers out of Camp Easter Seals on these days:

• 6/18
• 7/16
• 7/30
• 8/13

Please sign up at a general meeting or contact Hank at 360-692-6085 to get involved. 

Board Met: May 14th 7 PM at Art Bruner Residence. The next board meeting is June 11th.Dues: Please make sure you are caught up on your 2025 annual dues. Dues serve the community through camp scholarships, salmon in the classroom, Kid’s fishing party, etc. You can pay on the web at https://kitsappoggieclub.com/about/membership-application/, you can pay by mail, you can pay at a meeting. 

Don’t forget to invite your friends and family to our events and recruit them to join!

Club needs: 

• Summer Salmon Derby sponsors/donations for prize pool
• Summer Hatchery Volunteers and Coordinators
• Camp Easter Seals Volunteers (see above)
• Kitsap County Fair booth volunteers (8/20-24)
• Summer Auction and Salmon Derby prizes and donations. We are always open for sponsors and donations. If you or someone you know can offer experience or destination based donations like a one night stay at a hotel casino, or a guided trip, etc., then please consider donating to the Kitsap Poggie Club as this can be a great fundraiser during the summer picnic.
   

Upcoming events:

• 5/20/2025: May General Meeting
• 6/18/2025: Camp Easter Seals
• 7/16/2025: Camp Easter Seals
• 7/30/2025: Camp Easter Seals
• 8/13/2025: Camp Easter Seals
• 8/20-24: Kitsap County Fair
• 8/31/2025: Tentative date for Poggie Summer Picnic