The Tie-a-thon started with a conversation between Tim Scott and Terry Wittorp while driving to a Kalamazoo Valley Chapter of TU meeting. Terry was concerned with that the upcoming youth camp would not have enough flies for the campers. With Tim Scott being a fly tyer and knowing several fly tyers in the St. Joseph River Valley Fly Fishers club, the idea of getting both clubs together to tie flies for the youth camp was born as well as the idea of the Tie-a-thon.
In the fall of 2006, Terry and Tim started promoting the Tie-a-thon with the two clubs. Later the idea to get everyone together for an “end-of-the-tying” party came about. Since Terry is not a fly tyer, he committed to cooking lunch for everyone; which is a good thing, since Terry is a great cook. That first Tie-a-thon netted 3,500 flies for the KVCTU Youth Camp.
Tiers, had such a good time, they asked who the next recipient would be; and now 13 years later the Tie-a-thon has donated 117,758 flies to 20 non-profits using fly fishing for educational or therapeutic causes.