With the drawing to be held Wednesday, November 17, we are at 773 tickets sold, 256 more than last year’s total of 517. This means that we will draw for seven $250 Bardine’s Gift Certificate prizes!
Catch the drawing live on our Facebook page on Wednesday at 6:00 pm, winners will be notified immediately after the drawing.

FTTU would like to thank members and friends who bought or sold tickets this year making our Autumn Special Meat Raffle a huge success.

Raffle ticket sales are still brisk with a few more days to the deadline. As of November 9, we are at 616 tickets sold, almost 100 tickets better than last year’s total of 517. If you haven’t sent in your tickets, do so now, the deadline is Friday, November 12, 2021. You can also purchase tickets at Bardine’s Smokehouse. We will draw for one $250 Bardine’s Smokehouse gift certificate prize for each 100 tickets sold. That means we will be awarding at least 6 prizes this year!

In addition, 10% of our profits will be donated to the Westmoreland Food Bank helping those less fortunate here in our local area.

A huge THANK YOU to all who have purchased and/or sold tickets. Many members are buying/selling all 10 tickets included in the mailing!

This is the chapter’s only fundraising activity for the year. A chance for us to raise unrestricted funds for use wherever the needs may be. From everyday chapter business such as insurance, postage and newsletter costs to filling in the gaps not covered by grants for our many projects – Linn Run Conservation Plan, Rock Run restoration, Veterans Service, Education and more.

Members should check their mailboxes for this year’s raffle fundraiser mailing which went out recently. This is the only fundraising activity of the year for our chapter. Unlike grants we apply for that restrict their funds to be used for specific purposes, we need to raise unrestricted funds to keep the chapter running. Each year we incur normal operating expenses such as insurance, postage, meeting expenses, P.O. box rental etc. We also need to keep in touch with members through our newsletter and website, and we send out welcome package mailings to new members, it all adds up. This year we footed the bill for food at the Veterans Fishing Day and supplied rods and tackle for loan and door prizes for the vets. We’d like to do more and you can help by buying/selling raffle tickets. It’s a great deal, the prizes are $250 gift cards for Bardine’s Country Smokehouse just in time for the holidays. Tickets are $10 each and we will draw a $250 gift card prize for every 100 tickets sold. Those are good odds! Last year we gave out 5 cards. In addition, we will donate 10% of our profits to the Westmoreland Food Bank to help those less fortunate here in our home area.

Here’s what’s included the envelope you will receive: two strips of 5 raffle tickets, a letter explaining the raffle, and a pre-addressed return envelope.

• You do not need to be a member to purchase raffle tickets.
• Put the purchaser’s name and phone number on each ticket sold.
• Send the top half of the ticket with the name and phone number to us and keep the bottom half.
• Return the sold ticket stubs along with a check for $10/ticket made out to Forbes Trail TU in the envelope provided.
• If the envelope is lost, our address is FTTU, P.O. Box 370, Youngstown, PA 15696.
• Discard any unsold tickets. No need to send them back.
• Tickets must be received by Friday, November 12, 2021.
• The drawing will be held on Wednesday, November 17, 2021 live on FTTU’s Facebook page.
• Winners will be called immediately after the drawing and winning numbers will be posted here on forbestrailtu.org.

FTTU is now a registered charity with Amazon Smile. You can help support FTTU when you shop at Amazon by selecting us as your charity in smile.amazon.com, here’s how.

• Enter smile.amazon.com in your browser (you must start here, not at amazon.com)
• Sign in to your account
• Click “Get Started”
• Search for Forbes Trail Trout Unlimited in the Search field
• Select “Trout Unlimited – Forbes Trail Chapter 206”
• Shop and check out normally
• You should see, in the upper left of your browser, the Amazon Smile logo and “Supporting Forbes Trail Trout Unlimited”

.5% of your purchase will be donated to FTTU
Of course, we recommend supporting local businesses and fishing shops first, but if you will be shopping at amazon.com, do so through smile.amazon.com and remember to select Forbes Trail Trout Unlimited as your charity.

Our Holiday Special – Bardines Gift Certificate raffle wrapped up tonight, Tuesday, December 22, 2020. Over 500 tickets were sold and so we were able to award five $250 Bardines gift certificates. The drawing was held at 6pm at the Bear Rocks Community Center near Acme, PA. And the winning numbers are…

0226
0988
1289
1011
2432

The winners were notified by phone and the gift certificates will be sent out in the next couple of days.

The chapter did very well with this fund raiser thanks to an outstanding response from our membership. Thanks to your generosity, we were able to raise about $3,500 and we were able to make a $350 donation to the Westmoreland County Food Bank.

Thanks to all who participated. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Members may have already received a packet of raffle tickets in the mail from FTTU. Tickets are $10 each and the prize is a $250 gift certificate for Bardine’s Smokehouse www.bardinemeats.com. Bardine’s is one of the most popular places in our area for fine meat products. For every 100 tickets sold, we will give away one $250 gift certificate. So, if we sell 300 tickets, there will be three gift certificate prizes awarded. Proceeds benefit the chapter’s general fund. Even though our programs have all but ground to a halt in 2020, we are optimistic about resuming activities in 2021 including expanding our conservation work in the Linn Run watershed. Additionally, recognizing that 2020 has been a challenging year and this year’s holiday season will be a difficult one for those less fortunate, FTTU will donate 10% of the profits to the Westmoreland County Food Bank.

Please consider purchasing a ticket and sell a few to your friends and relatives. Fill out the top half with the buyer’s name and telephone number. Send that half in with a check made out to “Forbes Trail TU” in the pre-addressed envelope. Don’t forget to add a stamp. The drawings will be held at 6:00 pm, Tuesday, December 22, 2020 at the Bear Rocks Community Club. We cannot have a crowd at the club so instead you can watch the drawing live on the FTTU Facebook page. Winners will be notified and the winning numbers will be posted here in the FTTU News Blog.

Good luck and thank you!

The 2019 picnic was a big success. Thanks to all of you who attended and to all who purchased raffle tickets. The response to our mailing was outstanding, we sold over 600 tickets through the mail again this year. We had more donations of prizes last year, but this year’s profits nearly equaled 2018. The chapter is in excellent financial standing for 2019-20.

Congratulations to the raffle winners

Headwaters Fly Rod with Reel and Line – Ticket #0046 – Jim Shusko – Slickville, PA

$460.00 Cash Jackpot – Ticket #4330 – Hunter Mohan – Greensburg, PA

Regal Vise – Ticket #4865 – Ed Barger – North Huntingdon, PA

Orvis Clearwater Rod – Ticket #4155 – R.P. Rost – Rector, PA

Umpqua Chest Pack – Ticket #1318 – Rod Cross – Acme, PA

Highest Bidder on Bamboo Walking Staff – Aaron Mitchell – Ohio

We are now on summer vacation. We will reconvene at our September meeting on Wednesday, the 4th at 6:00 pm at the Westmoreland Conservation District Barn in Greensburg. The topic will be “All About Ticks & Mosquitoes”.

Check Your Mailbox!

The 2109 FTTU Picnic & Raffle is only a month away. Members should expect to receive an envelope in the mail with 10 raffle tickets, the latest issue of The Trails and a return envelope. If you wish to purchase raffle tickets, simply fill out the top halves with your name and phone number and send them in along with a check for $5.00/ticket using the return envelope provided. Keep the bottom half. There is an order form included in The Trails to fill out if you wish to purchase food tickets for the picnic and/or any additional raffle tickets.
New this year, kids picnic food tickets are available for kids 12 and under for only $5.00! There will be games, fishing and prizes for the kids.

We have an unbelievable line-up of prizes for the raffle including a 7′ 6″ Headwaters bamboo fly rod with bag, case, reel and line, a Regal Medallion vise with bronze base, a 9′ 6 weight Orvis fly rod and an Umpqua Overlook chest pack not to mention a $460.00 46th anniversary cash jackpot! Recently added – a TFO Bug Launcher fly rod.

We will also have as a special silent auction item a handcrafted split bamboo walking staff made by Gig Diorio of Ligonier.  Gig spends many painstaking hours splitting, hand planing, gluing and finishing this one-of-a-kind heirloom quality item. You got to see it to believe it!

The picnic will be held on Saturday, June 29, 2019 from 11:00 am to 3:00 pm at the Kingston Sportsmen’s Club in Kingston, PA – rain or shine.
Raffle winners will be drawn at the picnic. Picnic meal tickets are limited to 150 – first come first served. We will sell meal tickets at the door depending on availability and, of course, raffle tickets will be available to purchase at the picnic. There will also be a 50/50 drawing.

Please consider supporting FTTU by attending the picnic and purchasing some raffle tickets. If you cannot make it to the picnic, you can still buy some raffle tickets – winners do not need to be present, and you do not have to be an FTTU or TU member to participate.

For more information or answers to questions email us at info@forbestrailtu.org.

There will be smaller prizes added and other ticket buying locations announced, so check back here at forbestrailtu.org for updates and availability of tickets.

Click the link to download a picnic ticket order form Picnic Ticket Order Form.

See You There!

We are starting to acquire prizes for the raffle at our fund-raiser picnic.

The prize line-up so far includes:
Headwaters 7′ 6″ Bamboo Fly Rod & Reel
Orvis 9′ 6 weight fly rod
Regal Medallion Fly Tying Vise with Bronze Base

The picnic is scheduled for Saturday, June 29, 2019 at the Kingston Sportsmen’s Club.
Members will be receiving a mailing with raffle tickets in May.

You can help support FTTU’s Veterans Programs by buying and selling fund raiser buttons. The buttons are $5.00 and all proceeds will benefit our disabled vets fishing outing and any future events with veterans.

Contact us about obtaining a bag of buttons to sell to your fishing buddies, family and neighbors at info@forbestrailtu.org.
You can pick up some buttons to sell at our March meeting on Wednesday, March 6, 2019.

FTTU’s Disabled Veterans Fishing Outing is set for May 11, 2019 at the Foggy Mountain Lodge.