Fish arrive at the Skeels-Mathews Community Center Pond

James Bierlair from the Portage Soil and Water Conservation District hands a fish to his daughter, Brie Bierlair, at the pond at the Skeels-Matthews Community Center in Ravenna on Wednesday, April 21, 2021.

Ravenna

Fish arrive at the Skeels-Mathews Community Center Pond

- Michael Indriolo ,

The Portage Soil and Water Conservation District helped Skeels residents and community leaders stock the pond at the Skeels-Mathews Community Center on Wednesday.

Learn more about the project.

James Bierlair from the Portage Soil and Water Conservation District releases fish into the pond at the Skeels-Mathews Community Center in Ravenna on Wednesday, April 21, 2021.
Jimmy Worley, 80, a lifelong Skeels resident, recounts stories of growing up around the pond at the Skeels-Mathews Community Center in Ravenna on Wednesday, April 21, 2021. Worley said he learned how to swim in the pond and frequently sledded on the hills surrounding it when he was younger. He’s happy to see new efforts to clean up the pond, he said.
Snowflakes fall into the pond at the Skeels-Mathews Community Center in Ravenna on Wednesday, April 21, 2021.
Longtime Skeels resident Jimmy Worley points while Anthony Lerch, James Bierlair, and Brie Bierlair from the Portage Soil and Water Conservation District unload boxes of fish from their truck to be placed in the pond at the Skeels-Mathews Community Center in Ravenna on Wednesday, April 21, 2021.
James Bierlair from the Portage Soil and Water Conservation District unloads boxes of fish from a truck to be placed in the pond at the Skeels-Mathews Community Center in Ravenna on Wednesday, April 21, 2021.
James Bierlair from the Portage Soil and Water Conservation District pulls a fish out to show his daughter, Brie Bierlair, at the pond at the Skeels-Mathews Community Center in Ravenna on Wednesday, April 21, 2021.
James Bierlair from the Portage Soil and Water Conservation District hands a fish to his daughter, Brie Bierlair, at the pond at the Skeels-Mathews Community Center in Ravenna on Wednesday, April 21, 2021.
Longtime Skeels resident Jimmy Worley holds a fish while talking to James Bierlair from the Portage Soil and Water Conservation District at the pond at the Skeels-Mathews Community Center in Ravenna on Wednesday, April 21, 2021.
Lynn Vogel (right) and Ben Lang (left) from the Portage Soil and Water Conservation District pose for a picture with Jimmy Worley, a longtime Skeels resident, and Llewésha Perry, an associate at the Skeels-Mathews Community Center on Wednesday, April 21, 2021. Perry said she’s happy to see the pond cleaned up. “It’s about time,” she said.
A sign explaining the pond improvement project on the fence surrounding the Skeels-Mathews Community Center pond on Wednesday, April 21, 2021.

Michael Indriolo

Michael Indriolo is a visual journalist based in Kent. He is a contributor at The Portager covering a range of topics, including local government and community.

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Ravenna

Volunteers and donations needed for Community RECESS Initiative

- by Wendy DiAlesandro. - Founded in July 2025, the Community RECESS (Recreation, Resources, Community Service Supervision) Initiative is the brainchild of Aaron Mitchell, who worked with community navigator Frank Hairston to gently help individuals and families in Ravenna Township’s Skeels and McElrath neighborhoods build a sense of community, secure needed resources and unleash their community spirit.