Orvis Giveback Days

Each spring and fall, Orvis retail locations host “Great Giveback Days”, which make it easy for Orvis customers to support the local conservation and participation initiatives they are most passionate about. In just four years we have raised over $1.5M dollars for many organizations, including Trout Unlimited, Project Healing Waters, Casting for Recovery, pet adoption groups, and more.  

At our Orvis Outlet in Kittery, Maine, store manager Sam Searle has developed a meaningful relationship with an organization called Three Rivers Stocking Association (TRSA), a non-profit committed to private fish stocking on the Isinglass, Cocheco, Lamprey, and Exeter Rivers in southeast New Hampshire.(We know: that's four rivers...the Exeter River was added in 2017.) 

None of these rivers sustains natural trout populations, and the state stocks fish in spring and summer. A special dispensation allows TRSA to do fall stocking, which creates a late-fall and winter fishery that offers wonderful opportunities for anglers to get out on the water when most other rivers are closed. TRSA also provides volunteers for a local chapter of Project Healing Waters, and the organization host casting clinics with local youth organizations.  

Orvis’s Sam Searle became aware of the organization in March 2023, when he met TRSA Treasurer and Board of Directors member, Bill Cote. Once he learned about the group’s history, efforts, and values, he knew he had found a new fundraising partner for the Kittery Outlet. 

At a TRSA fundraiser to promote Orvis’ May Great Giveback Days, Sam metmany volunteers, board members, Project Healing Waters partners, and more. Itwas clear that this was an amazing network of passionate, local anglers whose core values are aligned with Orvis’: mutual respect on the water, protecting the places we love, and promoting catch-and-release and the Keep Fish Wet principles to help maintain healthy fisheries.  

As of October 2023, the Kittery Outlet has completed two successful rounds of Great Giveback Days fundraising efforts for TRSA totaling nearly $15,000 in donations and covering approximately 50% of TRSA’s 2023 budget! This has become a wonderful partnership in which everybody wins. TRSA raises additional funds for their stocking efforts, Orvis customers receive a special discount for their support, anglers enjoy excellent fishing opportunities, and the fisheries are maintained with special regulations to protect the places we love. 

It’s incredible to see the efforts come full circle: from receiving donations, to releasing buckets full of gorgeous trout into stunning local fisheries, to seeing the big grins on anglers with tight lines, and then seeing the fish landed and carefully released to, with any luck, be caught again. It simply doesn’t get any better than this.  

This relationship has been fulfilling for Sam in another way, as well: TRSA Board Member Mark Elias took Sam under his wing and taught him how to fly fish. Mark helped Sam gain confidence in casting, learn how to present different fly types, and ultimately land his first trout on fly. Sam’s colleague, Orvis Kittery Lead Retail Guide Cory Partridge, volunteered at one of the TRSA trout stockings, and even hooked up with a feisty rainbow trout on his first outing! It was a great opportunity for to Cory engage with the local fly-fishing community and experience the sport for the first time.

Congratulations to both Sam and Cory, who have embarked on a fly-fishing journey—as well as a conservation journey—that will provide a chance to experience the wonder and awe in nature for years to come.