Groups strive for safer lake

CELINA-The Grand Lake Recreation Club is partnering with the Trevor Mobley Foundation to make the 13,500-acre lake safer for people who recreate on it.

The groups have been raising funds to donate to area fire departments for equipment and to install safety lights around the lake in memory of Mobley, who died in a July 6, 2020, jet ski accident on the lake.
"The first (phase) was giving money back to the fire departments," said Brad Fisher, president of the Grand Lake Recreation Club. "We gave $4,000 to St. Mary's Township Fire Department, $4,000 to the Montezuma Fire Department and $4,000 to the City of Celina Fire Department to purchase rescue equipment for the lake."

The next phase will include adding more safety lights on all the concrete piers in the lake, which can be hard to see at night, Fisher said.

"(The Trevor Mobley Foundation is) donating $33,000 of it right now to the Grand Lake Rec Club to do these projects," he said.

The lights are 7-10 feet tall, spaced 500 feet apart and are solar-powered. They come on at dusk and stay on until dawn, flashing every second. Currently there are 20 lights and the groups plan to add more for a total of 53 around the lake. The lights will be placed on new and existing concrete piers and on Safety Island, Fisher said. They will be fully operational hopefully by April or May, he said.

The recreation club and the foundation also are installing bases on the lights to make them stand out. The lights cost $170 each and the bases cost $80-90 each, Fisher said.

Also planned for installation around the lake are "illuminated and labeled buoys as channel markers, which will be 300 feet from shore so people know how close they're getting in at night," Fisher said.

Mobley's family and friends held an event last summer at the Coldwater VFW to raise money to add more safety lights to the lake, Fisher said. Their goal was to raise $25,000, and the event raised $43,000.

"We got together with the Grand Lake Rec … and they jumped aboard right away," Eric Stachler, Mobley's stepfather, said. "This past September, we had a fundraiser and we were able to generate a good chunk of money … We took the money in a 501c through the Mercer County Civic Foundation and got with Brad and he did all the legwork as far as the approval with the ODNR in the state."

On Sept. 11, the foundation sponsored a golf outing.

The club - originally called the Grand Lake Snow Dreamers - started in the 1970s as a snowmobiling club. The group changed its name in the early 2000s because snow was infrequent, Fisher said. The group promotes safety around the lake for boaters, snowmobilers and kayakers. It also buys sonar GPS units for fire departments and for the Ohio Department of Natural Resources.

The Trevor Mobley Foundation committee has nine members and was established last year.
  "It's amazing how the lake community and the surrounding communities came to support Trevor Mobley," Fisher said. "It shows what great support this area has for people around the lake and the safety on the lake."

Those interested can donate to the Trevor Mobley Memorial Foundation at mercercountycivicfdn.org and learn about the recreation club by visiting grandlakerecclub.com.