Elmhurst Teen Steps Up To Help Restock Lagoon

ELMHURST, IL — Elmhurst resident CJ Klimek could have merely complained that hardly any fish were in the Eldridge Park Lagoon. But the 13-year-old fisherman decided he should do more.

"I've been fishing there for a few years," Klimek said in an interview. "I thought maybe they hadn't restocked it. I thought I should reach out."

In researching the issue, Klimek, an eighth grader at Sandburg Middle School, found out what the problem was: The Elmhurst Park District was running low on money because of the pandemic, so it had to cut spending. The annual restocking of the lagoon was a victim of the budget ax.

He and his mother, Melissa Klimek, set up a GoFundMe page, saying the cost to restock the pond would be $2,000. As of Wednesday, they had raised $1,655.

In an interview, Angela Ferrentino, the district's facilities director, said the district lost millions from service fees because of the pandemic shutdowns.

"The budget was cut drastically," she said. "We looked at low-hanging fruit."

Ferrentino said she was pleased Klimek stepped forward and that she did not want to "squash a young person's excitement to help." So she got three bids from fisheries and figured the district could spend the first $1,000 this year and the rest in 2021.

The district, she said, aims to restock the lagoon in the next couple of weeks. It is set to be filled with bluegill, hybrid bluegill, channel catfish and largemouth bass.

Meanwhile, Klimek is trying to organize an effort to clean around the lagoon.

"There are some downed branches in areas and some trash that needs to be cleaned up," he said.