A Chance to do Something to Save one Fly Shop

The Southard Family has run the Fly Factory and Ray's Canoe Rental in
Grayling Michigan for 25 years. The weakening economy plus a series of
family and health issues have taken a toll on Steve Southard where closing
up shop and loosing all of his family's assets is a possibility. In addition
to his business, Steve has been a tireless worker for the health and
wellbeing of the watersheds in Northern Michigan. In just the past few
years, Steve has personally been responsible for over $100,000 in fund
raising for the those watersheds in addition to rolling up his sleeves and
working too.

In recognition of all that Steve has done for the Ausable and Manistee
watersheds along with genuine concern for a friend, friends of his have
taken to help the family and the business remain a viable organization.

Ed Walicki has organized a banquet and a live auction to benefit the
Southard Family. The info and the auction items can be seen at
www.stevesfriends.com . The auction will begin Monday, Oct 27 via a link on
the website and EBAY.

Most everything for the banquet and the auction has been donated and the
proceeds will be used to help reorganize and restock the shop as well as
help the family get through the winter season. We have taken steps to ensure
Steve gets the business management support he needs to stay in business and
that this effort does not go to waste.

As Bill has said, it's tough being a small business. Every day many small
businesses disappear, their owners left struggling to survive. We plan to at
least to try and help one shop make it.

For those interested, a complete list of the auction items can be found by
clicking on the auction item tab of the stevesfriends.com site.

Thank you.

wayne knight

If I'm not mistaken Wayne, you recommended that shop to me prior to a trip I
took to Michigan. If it wasn't you it was some other Roffian.

In any event, I did stop there and a nicer, more local group of fellows
would be hard to find.
A truly worthy event.
john
"Wayne Knight" wrote in message
...
The Southard Family has run the Fly Factory and Ray's Canoe Rental in
Grayling Michigan for 25 years. The weakening economy plus a series of
family and health issues have taken a toll on Steve Southard where closing
up shop and loosing all of his family's assets is a possibility. In
addition
to his business, Steve has been a tireless worker for the health and
wellbeing of the watersheds in Northern Michigan. In just the past few
years, Steve has personally been responsible for over $100,000 in fund
raising for the those watersheds in addition to rolling up his sleeves and
working too.

In recognition of all that Steve has done for the Ausable and Manistee
watersheds along with genuine concern for a friend, friends of his have
taken to help the family and the business remain a viable organization.

Ed Walicki has organized a banquet and a live auction to benefit the
Southard Family. The info and the auction items can be seen at
www.stevesfriends.com . The auction will begin Monday, Oct 27 via a link
on
the website and EBAY.

Most everything for the banquet and the auction has been donated and the
proceeds will be used to help reorganize and restock the shop as well as
help the family get through the winter season. We have taken steps to
ensure
Steve gets the business management support he needs to stay in business
and
that this effort does not go to waste.

As Bill has said, it's tough being a small business. Every day many small
businesses disappear, their owners left struggling to survive. We plan to
at
least to try and help one shop make it.

For those interested, a complete list of the auction items can be found by
clicking on the auction item tab of the stevesfriends.com site.

Thank you.

wayne knight

"asadi" wrote in message
...
If I'm not mistaken Wayne, you recommended that shop to me prior to a trip
I
took to Michigan. If it wasn't you it was some other Roffian.

In any event, I did stop there and a nicer, more local group of fellows
would be hard to find.
A truly worthy event.


It was probably me who recommended them. Glad they treated you right.

Thanks for the support.

Wayne

wrote...
snipped
For those interested, a complete list of the auction items can be found by
clicking on the auction item tab of the stevesfriends.com site.

Keep us updated and give us a reminder.
--
Warren
(use troutbum_mt (at) yahoo to reply via email)

Not to be too much of a complainer/whiner but some advance notice and
some of us could have added to the inventory! Bill in Va.

They've got a sign up page!

john


"Bill McDonald" wrote in message
om...
Not to be too much of a complainer/whiner but some advance notice and
some of us could have added to the inventory! Bill in Va.

"Bill McDonald" wrote in message
om...
Not to be too much of a complainer/whiner but some advance notice and
some of us could have added to the inventory! Bill in Va.

Thanks for the thought Bill. As John said there is a sign up and not too
late, but Ed thought it best just to keep it in the circle of Michigan
fisher and people who knew Steve. I would have been uncomfortable posting a
request for help on ROFF though I'm sure some folks would have gladly
helped.

This is something we struggled with in the appropriate way to help him. Was
it going to be a something to help the family get a foothold after they lost
everything or could we actually do something to help him stay in business?
In the overall macro economic scheme of things small businesses come and go
everyday. And frankly lots of folks who were approached were cautious in not
wanting to throw good money after bad. Fortunately, once we got in there and
studied the situation we decided things could be salvaged if Steve got the
appropiate support and then things started happening. Shops like the Fly
Factory are more destination shops and depend heavily upon foot traffic from
people during the fishing season and frankly, the shop's problems weren't
all due to the econonmy. It took several conversations with steve amongst
Ed, myself, and others to point out and remind him that in Grayling alone
several long term businesses have come and gone without anyone throwing a
banquet and auction to help them stay in business. Steve is a special guy
and has done alot for the resource there. We would all be lucky to have as
many friends as he does. The ball is now in his court, he still has lots of
challenges to overcome and not all of them are financial. Ed Walicki has
done a great job with this and is driving the ship. Feel free to drop him a
note.

Thanks

Wayne