OUTDOORS
Anglers Catch the Spirit, Send Fish to New York
Pete ThomasSeptember 21 2001
Disaster relief has been arriving in New York in the form of blood and money, of clothing and medical supplies.
But this week one of the most unusual donations made its way to Ground Zero, intended to feed rescue workers and cleanup crews. It was 1,000 pounds of fish, prime cuts of tuna, mahi-mahi, wahoo and mako shark, courtesy of the Southern California recreational fishing community.
And it was only a veritable drop in the bucket. Reacting to a plea by the Hard Rock Cafe in New York for help feeding rescue and cleanup crews in the wake of last week's terrorist attacks, Chuck Robinson, a retired fireman from Anaheim, posted a plea of his own on a popular Internet sportfishing site.
He asked anglers for any fish they could spare and promised to organize a means of sending it east.
That opened the floodgates. So far, about 3,000 people have posted replies on the Allcoast Sportfishing (http://www.sport-fish-info.com) message boards, offering fish from their freezers and asking how else they can help. The result was the donation, at collection centers scattered throughout the Southland, of about 5,000 pounds of fish, so much that Robinson has had to temporarily suspend collection efforts.
A grand gesture?
"When I was told about what the guys in California had offered I thought that was just fantastic," said Mark Levine, general manager of the Hard Rock Cafe on 57th Street in Manhattan, which has been providing meals to families of victims and to rescue and cleanup crews. "We appreciate it so much and I can't say in words how I feel about what everyone has done; only that they should keep on showing support."
Robinson and fishing partner Earl Durham of Irvine have been overwhelmed by the support, from those donating the fish to those storing and packaging it to the Irvine Federal Express company that paid for the first shipment to New York.
With so much fish, the nonprofit group that calls itself "Fish for America" is having to find other ways to use it in the relief effort.
One is a fund-raising banquet planned in the coming weeks, with proceeds going to the New York Police and Fire Widows' and Children's Benefit Fund. Robinson said the Hard Rock Cafe in Newport Beach has offered the use of its facility and chefs.
Meanwhile, Robinson, who can be reached via e-mail at rdrrm8e@earthlink.net, said he is being inundated with offers of assistance from as far away as Singapore.
"I had one guy e-mail me from Idaho this week saying he had all the elk, moose and bear we could accept," he said. "I had to tell him, 'Hang on for now, pal. Right now this is ' Fish for America.' But we'll see where this thing goes .... We may turn our attention to the local soup kitchens. I just don't know."