Fort Worth Resident Gives Back to Trinity Trails

By Nick Olivier, communications intern

Loanne Chiu of Fort Worth had won cooking contests before. So when she won the Redwood Creek wines grilling recipe contest, she wasn’t surprised. The grand prize winner received two gifts. One was a trip for two to Colorado Springs to attend chef Steven Raichlen’s Barbecue University. The other gift was a $2,500 donation to the nonprofit organization of Loanne’s choosing. She chose to put the money towards Streams and Valleys for a new bench along the Trinity Trails. She is not into sports, but she loves to walk and ride her bike. “Every time I walk, I always see people enjoying the trails, sitting with a book or just enjoying the breeze,” Loanne said. “The best feature of Fort Worth is the river.”

Loanne had never heard of Streams and Valleys but she knew she wanted to give back to the Trinity Trails she enjoyed so much. After asking around, she found out that Streams and Valleys coordinates placement of the benches along the Trinity River working through the Fort Worth Parks & Community Services Department and Tarrant Regional Water District. She was pleasantly surprised to hear that she would have her pick of location along the Trails and under which tree the bench would rest. She picked the biggest tree offering the most shade on the Clear Fork banch of the Trinity River near the Overton Woods neighborhood. The spot is the close to her home and on the stretch of the Trails that Loanne and her husband have walked and cycled many times over the years. The bench will also be inscribed with the names of Loanne and her husband.

Loanne’s path to Fort Worth spans three continents. The daughter of a Chinese family, she was born in Indonesia, she attended college in Germany before moving to New York City in the early 1970s. In 1979, she moved to Arlington and settled in Fort Worth not long after. “Sometimes life dictates where you go, you just follow,” Loanne said. “We are glad to be here. I like the warm climate much better than shoveling snow in New York.” It was in Germany that she began cooking out of necessity. German food was unfamiliar and undesirable to her, so she cooked on an electric plate in her dorm room. She ate a lot of fried rice and any other dishes were learned through trial and error.

photo from ifood.tv

Now Loanne enters cooking contests as a hobby. She is a practicing psychologist and her clients like to hear about the latest contest and recipe. She won the Redwood Creek contest by creating a recipe for wine-tamarind glazed Cornish hens with tropical salad that is meant to be made and enjoyed with sauvignon blanc. Click HERE for the recipe. She really enjoyed learning from barbecue aficionado Steven Raichlen at the three-day grilling camp in Colorado. Thanks to Loanne and her culinary skills, the Trinity Trails bench will provide her and many others pleasure, relaxation and respite from the sun for years to come.

Contact info@streamsandvalleys.org to inquire about leaving your own legacy and donating a bench along the Trinity Trails.

How often do you make use of the Trinity Trails benches? Do you have a favorite spot to stop and rest? Have you thought about how nice it would be to have a bench with your name inscribed for all to see?