Help Support Redfish Lake Lodge Staff and Family

Many of us have spent some of our best days at Redfish Lake sitting on the front porch of the lodge eating an ice cream cone, enjoying an adult beverage in the Rustic Lounge, paddling quietly on the lake, or water skiing or wakeboarding with our friends. Maybe we took the shuttle to the end of the lake for an awesome day hike. Maybe we launched an epic backpacking journey in the beautiful Sawtooth Mountains. Maybe we stayed in one of the cozy cabins around the lodge. Or maybe we were camping at one of the beautiful campgrounds surrounding the lake. Whatever your journey and relationship with Redfish Lake and the historic lodge is, I think we can all agree it is our “happy place.”

Unfortunately, a wildfire started near the Bench Lakes on Thursday, July 11, 2024, and has been growing exponentially each day. The entire Redfish Lake complex has been closed and remains closed for the immediate future. These closures are having a huge financial impact on the Redfish Lake Lodge owners and staff due to lack of income. Arlen & Derrel Crouch bought the Lodge in 1999. Their son-in-law and daughter, Jeff & Audra Clegg, manage the day-to-day operations. They are incurring huge losses of wages, tips, and income per day during these uncertain times.

A group of Redfish Lake lovers from the Wood River Valley started this GoFundMe campaign to help raise funds to help offset some of the losses being incurred by the Clegg/Crouch family. The funds collected will be sent to Jeff Clegg, the owner/manager of Redfish Lake Lodge. He will distribute these funds to his 105 employees to cover lost wages, tips, housing costs (if applicable), and food costs during the closure. Many of the employees were living in employee housing and eating in the employee “chow hall,” so these were all unexpected expenses.

We (Angela Hansen, Maya Blix, Trini Wysong, and Carey Molter) hope that you will donate to help us support our Redfish Lake Family and that special place that we love so much. We are praying that the firefighters and Mother Nature will be able to achieve full suppression of this fire so we can all get back to enjoying our sunny days at this special place soon.

Thank you in advance for your generosity. Please share this fundraiser far and wide using social media and your personal networks. Every little bit will help sustain our Redfish Lake Family.

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Photo credit: Mikesell Clegg