KANSAS CITY, Mo. — It was a collective effort from the Union Sportsmen’s Alliance (USA), union volunteers and partners to connect local youths and families to fishing at the 2024 Greater Kansas City Take Kids Fishing Day on Sept. 14.
Hosted by the USA and the Greater Kansas City Building and Construction Trades Council (BCTC), the 200-plus attendees, including 130 youths, caught hybrid sunfish and channel catfish at Penn Valley Lake.
Twenty-four union volunteers assisted participants with baiting hooks, using their fishing rods, and reeling in fish, and every youth took home a free rod and reel to keep pursing fishing after the event.
Missouri Department of Conservation Private Land Conservationist Andy Carmack, who helped seven kids catch their first fish at the event, enjoyed imparting his fishing knowledge.
“I love seeing the smile of someone catching their first fish,” Carmack said. “I grew up in a fishing family. I caught my first fish at the age of three. Hunting and fishing are what I devote my recreational time to. Fishing is a lifetime sport. You can learn it at any age, and you can continue it near death. It’s not like basketball or football that’s so detrimental to your body, so I love the fact that if you teach someone how to do a sport that they can continue to do for the remainder of their life.”
Nine different trades were involved in Take Kids Fishing Day, including: Greater Kansas City BCTC , Greater Kansas City AFL-CIO, Ironworkers Local 10, Insulators Local 27, Teamsters Local 41, SMART Local 2, OPCMIA International, OPCMIA Local 518 and Firefighters Local 42
Greater Kansas City AFL-CIO President Pat “Duke” Dujakovich said multiple reasons motivate him and others to get involved with Take Kids Fishing Day.
“Everybody comes together to help a kid,” he said. “Hopefully we give them the tools like the rod, reel, bobbers, hooks and weights because where they live, there’s not an Academy Sports around the corner. Giving them all those resources, showing them how to dig for worms and showing them how to actually catch fish gives them skills. Also, it shines an extremely positive light on the unions. People are amazed when they find out we give up our Saturdays to go do something like that.”
Partners such as the Missouri Department of Conservation, Outdoors Tomorrow Foundation, Humana and Marriott Hotels supported Take Kids Fishing Day.
Carmack and the Missouri Department of Conservation protect and manage fish and wildlife across the state. He hopes attendees gained an understanding of the public fishing access available in the area.
“[Missouri] has access to public waters that a lot of the other states don’t, especially inside our Kansas City proper. There are at least three or four impoundment ponds that we stock on a regular basis. That’s not very common amongst other municipalities. We do try to manage the fishing to where the people are and put the fish where people will utilize them.”
Dujakovich discussed what makes Kansas City a special location for USA events.
“The solidarity,” Dujakovich said. “Everyone is willing to jump in and help. Kansas City is one of the most giving areas of the country. United Way and others rank cities on philanthropy and Kansas City always scores highly on people willing to help others out. There’s definitely a positive vibe going on in Kansas City. It’s just a fun, good place to be.”
Union Sportsmen’s Alliance (USA): The USA is a union-dedicated, 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization whose members hunt, fish, shoot and volunteer their skills for conservation. The USA is uniting the union community through conservation to preserve North America’s outdoor heritage. For more information, visit www.unionsportsmen.org or connect on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
Work Boots on the Ground (WBG): WBG is the USA’s flagship conservation program that brings together union members willing to volunteer their time and expertise to conservation projects that improve and enhance public access to the outdoors, conserve wildlife habitat, restore America’s parks and mentor youth in the outdoors. The USA’s Work Boots on the Ground program works closely with federal, state and local agencies and other conservation groups to provide manpower needed to complete critical projects that may otherwise go undone.
