WEEK APRIL 2, 2025 FLIER INSIDE
Helping the cause
Greater Pine Island Chamber of Commerce makes donation to three island organizations — INSIDE PINEISLAND-EAGLE.COM
VOLUME 48, NUMBER 47
Pine Island Aquatics growing, seeks additional support By PAULETTE LeBLANC
pleblanc@breezenewspapers.com
Darsey Stearns Smith of Stearns Custom Builders said, so far, as far as the youth sports activities on Pine Island are concerned, there has really been only support for Little League. Pine Island now has a swim team, called Pine Island Aquatics, which, she said, could really use some support from parents, friends and anyone who may be interested. “They’re a competitive swim team, and they use the Pine Island Community Pool,” Smith said. The younger kids practice Monday through Thursday in the afternoon and evenings and the older and more advanced level kids practice Monday through Friday, she said. There are one or two swim meets a month locally.
She said the meet locations go from FGCU all the way up to the Sarasota area. Smith said getting the word out about this program is important. “Our youngest swimmer is 4 and our oldest swimmer is 17, so there’s a large span in ages and there are a lot of island kids doing this,” Smith said. The coaches have made this a group that’s sought after, she said, bringing in kids from nearby areas, due to their experience. If you know someone who may have interest,
Celebrating Pine Islanders: Katie Fischer By PAULETTE LeBLANC
K
pleblanc@breezenewspapers.com
atie Fischer describes the many roles she plays in her life as an islander, including mother of two, Kai, 12 and Sailor, 7; and local business woman of two businesses, as she is a real estate agent and also co-owns the Island Seafood Market in Matlacha with her partner, Casey Streeter. Fischer also describes herself as a woman of faith. Folks may remember her, however, she said, from her days managing the Perfect Cup, in the heart of Matlacha, because when you get people their first cup of coffee for the day, you get to know them, she explained. Although there was a time, not long ago, when she found her life busier than she could have imagined. “Up until Kai was about 2 or 3, I was with the Matlacha Hookers and super active. I was vice madam for one term but then I just got too busy being a mom and running a business. For a long time I was a coach on Pine Island Little League — from when my son was 4 until he was 9,” Fischer said. Although her affection for the island has become a part of her everyday routine, Fischer said coming to Pine Island was always previously on her mind as far as where she would settle eventually, as she had been coming here for years before she moved here. “My family has been on the island since the late 1980s, but I didn’t move here until 2008. I grew up visiting my family here. I always knew I wanted to be here someday. I’m from Ohio and coming here was just a great island feeling.” She’s already made major contributions to Pine Island by doing things such as having offered her time to children and families in the summer lunch program coupled with several financial donations — things she said she’s hoping she has the time to return to in the future. Having started a career in real estate in 2010 has left Fischer little time to do much else, when she considers her role at the Seafood Market and her family life. “My love for Pine Island is honestly the people and the community. That’s the one thing I really miss about
PHOTO PROVIDED
Katie Fischer and Casey Streeter. Island Seafood Market — we have such a connection to the community. People come in and I don’t even know if they want to buy seafood, they just wanted to chat and then Ian came along and our life got turned upside down. Our house flooded and our business got destroyed. It was a very scary time in our life but we gave it up to God — from that, we did get the opportunity to clean the waterways. Everything south of Pine See KATIE FISCHER, page 11
or if you are interested in information, you can email any questions to Pineislandaquatics23@gmail.com So far, she said support for the Pine Island Aquatics group has come from the Bobby Holloway Foundation and also the Pine Island Kiwanis Club, which helped when the group first began. “They helped us to get some equipment that we needed, which was greatly appreciated — we’re a non-profit, so donations are always welcome to support the kids, for gear that they may need. With that money we were even able to buy a portable diving block, and we wouldn’t have been able to do that without the support of the community. “We want to thank the community for their support and if there is anyone out there who’d like to support the swim See PINE ISLAND AQUATICS, page 11
Friedlander, Russell provide update on oral history project
Friend of the Pine Island Library and Library Board director Jim Friedlander and his colleague Steve Russell recently brought interested library patrons up to date on their work to preserve the history of Pine Island through oral histories of long-time residents. Their project has been underway for more than a year and just days before the meeting they traveled to the University of Florida in Gainesville for training in its Oral History Program. Oral history is a form of public history that Jim Friedlander makes history accessiand Steve Russell ble to a broad audience and connects scholars and departments of history to their local communities. Friedlander and Russell plan to record interviews of long-time Pine Island residents on the topic of the local fishing industry. They will begin with a set of questions to start the interview but expect many subjects to tell stories in their own way, sometimes incorporating photos/mementos in their homes. These recordings will be first-person stories and often include those of spouses as well. If you are someone who was involved in commercial fishing before the net ban, or know someone who was and might be interested in participating, please contact Friedlander at 860-608-1158 The University of Florida will keep up with technology changes and make the interviews available in the Cloud via YouTube. The Pine Island Library offers a number of computers that will be able to access these See ORAL HISTORY, page 10
of the Week...........13 Cribbage Corner...............11 Obituaries........................10 INSIDETODAY Athlete Bridge Beat.......................11 Mahjongg Scores..............7 On the Water.......................8
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