The 10,000 Ice Anglers project is back at Elpis Enterprises this winter as we prepare to give thousands of fourth-grade students the experience of ice fishing for the first time.
Karl Erickson organizes and operates the Ice Anglers program, as well as Elpis’s woodworking program and the Land of 10,000 Diverse 4th Grade Birdwatchers. For the birdfeeder program, Erickson surveyed many of the teachers he worked with about the Ice Anglers project. Of those surveyed, 90% said they wanted to get their students out on the ice for an hour this winter.
“Prior to coming to Elpis, as a teacher, I had been taking my students to Como Lake each year to ice fish and have helped over 1,000 students go over the past 10 years,” said Erickson. “As interns in our program build out their resumes for their next career landing spot. They can show on their resumes that they helped 1,000-2,000 kids build bird feeders or go ice angling and it shows they are willing to commit to bigger projects and work in a team setting to accomplish special things for others around them.”
With the forecast looking more promising for ice fishing than it did a year ago, Erickson expects to start getting students out on the ice as their winter breaks conclude in the new year.
“In 2024, we were working on getting 2,500 plus students the opportunity but Mother Nature thought she would be funny by opening up rainfalls at Christmas that wiped away the ice and 60-degree days in January to keep ice out of the question,” Erickson said.
Working with students across the entire Twin Cities metro, Elpis plans to bring these students out to 10 different lakes over the first six weeks of 2025. Elpis has already received parts of funding for this program through a grant from the Saint Paul Police Activities League, which was postponed last year due to the weather conditions.
Erickson and the interns in his program plan to host a class of 25 students for an hour over 5 hourly rotations in a day over these six weeks. However, there is still equipment needed to help make this projection a reality, for example, five fish finders for ice fishing.
“If anybody knows someone in their social circle who is done with ice fishing and has an old fish finder, heater, fishing poles, or tackle they are looking to give new life to, we would love to recycle it into this project. If anybody is already passionate about ice angling and has available time during the week to volunteer in a fish house with small groups or help at an event in some other way, many hands make light work, let’s collaborate,” said Erickson.
With a more normal winter ahead, Erickson and his interns are more than excited to get back on the ice again and see the smiles on kids’ faces as many will experience ice fishing for the first time. But as Erickson puts it, this program is not just an effort put together by Elpis Enterprises alone, it takes the help of a whole community.
“This 10,000 Ice Anglers project is one hundred percent collaboration with many people, groups, organizations, and others who will make this a reality. If everything goes right, we dream big and execute bigger.:
If you’d like to donate to Elpis Enterprises to help fund the Ice Anglers program this winter, you can head to our website’s donation page. Or if you’d like to find ways to help volunteer for the program, you can reach out to karl@elpisenterprises.org to find out more.
