Tuesday, August 19, 2008
Early boom puts strain on charity group
Mark Taylor
Mark Taylor's Outdoors column and notebook appears regularly in The Roanoke Times.
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Virginia’s deer seasons are still nearly two months distant, but Hunters for the Hungry has been busy collecting and distributing truckloads of venison.
“We’ve already collected about 150,000 pounds of meat,” the group’s Gary Arrington said Monday. “We’ve never had this happen before.”
The deer have come largely from culling and sharpshooter programs and have provided an important protein boost to charitable organizations such as food pantries that are constantly in need of meat.
But the preseason boom has created worries that normally don’t come until later in the year.
It costs money to pay for the collection, processing and distribution of deer, and Hunters for the Hungry is burning through its budget faster than normal.
“We don’t want to turn down any deer,” Arrington said. “Our program could easily do 500,000 pounds of meat a year if we had the funding in place.”
Last year the group collected and doled out more than 350,000 pounds of venison, the latest in a continuous line of records since the program was founded in the early 1990s.
Adding to funding concerns this year is the slow economy, which is creating a double whammy for the Big Island-based charity.
Potential donors are being careful with their dollars, while at the same time groups that serve Virginia’s hungry are seeing growing demand for their services.
Hunters for the Hungry has a couple of major fundraisers in the works.
This weekend the group will have a presence at the Virginia Outdoors Sportsmen’s Classic in Salem and will be selling raffle chances for several special hunting trips as well as for a Knight muzzleloader rifle.
Next month comes one of the group’s most important annual events, its Roanoke Valley banquet. The event will be Sept. 27 at Dave Sarmadi Mitsubishi in Salem.
“Last year we raised just over $19,000,” Arrington said. “That’s enough to pay for more than 90,000 4-ounce servings of venison.”
As he has since starting the annual Roanoke-area banquet in 2006, Arrington is working hard to spread the message that the banquet and the program aren’t so much about hunting but about helping less fortunate Virginians.
As the group’s 15-person banquet committee has sought donations of items for raffles and silent and live auctions, Arrington has urged them to work hard to find items with more general appeal.
For example, the list of items collected so far includes things such as furniture, handmade dolls, a quilt, a canoe package, jewelry and dining, entertainment and lodging packages. There’s even a guided tour of the U.S. Capitol and lunch with representative Bob Goodlatte, R-Roanoke, a unique item that drew a hefty donation when it debuted last year.
It’s a smart approach.
At last year’s banquet, I had my eye on guns and bows. My wife, however, was immediately drawn to a package that included a gift certificate to Roanoke’s tony Metro restaurant, tickets to the Mill Mountain Theatre and brunch at Mountain Lake Resort.
Guess what I ended up with?
Of course I’m pretty sure that move paid off in a little more hunting time when the season came in.
As you’d expect, the list of loot includes plenty of hunting stuff.
A number of special trips are offered, including a fishing trip to Alaska and a Texas whitetail hunt. The long list of outdoor gear includes fishing tackle and an impressive number of crossbows, bows and firearms, including some designed specifically for youth and women shooters.
The group is continuing to accept donations of items for the raffles and auctions (yes, that’s a hint), so the list will continue to grow.
This year’s guest speaker will be Bryan Tabor, a trick archer and motivational speaker. And, yes, he will be shooting.
Tickets for the banquet are $20 for individuals and $35 for couples. Kids age 12 and under are admitted free. Sponsorships for eight-person tables are available starting at $250.
Individual tickets may be available at the door, but because the size of the event is limited Arrington suggests buying tickets ahead of time.
Tickets are available at Dave Sarmadi Mitsubishi or through local committee members Jeff Fletcher at 985-6523 or Fred and Phyllis Wells at 992-3874.
Dudley 14th in FLW Championship
A tough first day put pro angler David Dudley into a hole from which he couldn’t climb out at last week’s FLW Tour’s championship tournament in South Carolina.
Dudley finished 14th, falling just over 2 pounds short of joining the top 10 anglers who advanced to the final two days of action.
Dudley, who a few weeks early clinched the tour’s Angler of the Year points championship, had a first-day catch of 9 pounds, 10 ounces. He had exactly a pound more the next day but it wasn’t enough to advance to the finals, during which catches are zeroed.
Michael Bennett of Lincoln, Calif., won the tournament and its $1 million top prize.
