Friends of Decorah Fish Hatchery trying to win contest for a grant

The Friends of the Decorah Fish Hatchery is in the running for funding from Chase Bank via an online voting contest hosted on Facebook. 

JP Morgan Chase & Co. Chase Community Giving is awarding $3 million nationally in a campaign where people vote for their favorite nonprofit organization in good standing with a budget of less than $500,000.

The winner receives $250,000, second place is $100,000 and each placeholder from 3-100 receives $25,000. The competition runs through Tuesday, November 22nd.  Information on how to vote is posted at http://www.decorahfishhatchery.org.  A Facebook account is needed to vote.

"We were in 50th place last week, but dropped to 71st," said Brian Malaise, hatchery manager. "Each person can only vote once so we need to get the word out to keep the friends group in the top 100."  Malaise said any award money earned from the contest would help the Friends of the Decorah Hatchery finish off the fundraising for the hatchery project, which will provide modern public restrooms, a covered outdoor seating area and educational kiosks and information for the many visitors to the hatchery and Trout Run Trail users.