Pictured left to right are Delta Waterfowl Bay to Bay Chapter members Jay Gannon, Event Co-Coordinator Carlin Savage, Treasurer Ethan Stafford, KSI CEO Heath B. Chasanov, Delta Waterfowl Bay to Bay Co-Chair Ashton Stafford, Co-Chairman Arthur Stafford, and Event Co-Coordinator Stacy Stafford.
Delta Waterfowl Bay to Bay Chapter recently donated $3,300 to Kent Sussex Industries.
The proceeds were from the waterfowl organization’s annual fundraising banquet
“One part of this year’s banquet was a legacy table honoring past KSI Vice-President, Ann Haggerty, who was a supporter of the Bay to Bay chapter prior to her death,” said Alicia Hollis, KSI’s director of Community Relations.
“It included a special auction package that elicited a $3,300 winning bid donated to KSI.”
The Bay to Bay Chapter, located in Felton, traces its roots back to 1911 when James Ford Bell of General Mills founded the original chapter.
Bell had concerns about the duck population, especially canvasbacks, and began a program that replaced two ducks for every one shot during hunting season at the Delta Marsh hunting club in Manitoba.
Still concerned about the duck population in the area, Bell brought in Aldo Leopols, the father of today’s game management, in order to create a waterfowl research facility.
Hans Albert “Al” Hockbaum, became the first scientific director of the facility, in Bismark, North Dakota, in 1938.
The organization pioneered the study of breeding duck ecology while also making important discoveries on duck habitat as well as behavior.
Learning of the mission of Delta Waterfowl, 17-year old Ashton Stafford, his 21-year old brother, Austin, 16-year old cousin Ethan Stafford and 22-year old friend Gage Williams, decided to start a chapter in Delaware, creating Bay to Bay.
Its first annual banquet raised $99,000 for the mission of Delta Waterfowl, a national chapter record for fundraising at a single event.
The donation to KSI will be used to support the programs for people with disabilities,” Hollis said.
“That was something near and dear to Ann’s heart,” she said. “It was a remarkably generous action in honor of an individual who had a tremendous impact on countless Delaware lives.”
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