Upcoming festivities benefit community

If you enjoy fundraiser and banquets, this is the month!

There are three banquets hosted by folks in outdoors recreation community, plus a sendoff dinner for one of the hunter education staff. All of these banquets benefit worthwhile causes and the pot luck recognizes a very dedicated and valuable member of the Alaska hunter education organization.

Describing these festivities in chronological order, we’ll begin with the Alaska State Friends of the NRA organization and their annual banquet, scheduled for Saturday at the Egan Center in Anchorage.

Quoting from their cover letter for the banquet, “The FNRA is a non-profit foundation that contributes more than any other group in Alaska to ensure that our outdoor traditions are carried on to future generations. The funds raised at this event are used to provide direct support to educational programs for youth and women that teach the shooting sports, outdoor recreation and gun safety — programs such as Women on Target, Refuse to be a Victim, Becoming on Outdoor Woman, Youth Education Summit, Youth Hunter Education Summit, and the Eddie Eagle Gun Safety Program. In addition to these programs, the grants in past years provide opportunities for students to use their newly learned skills through hunting clinics, range improvements and hunting outings such as Beyond Bow for the ladies and Alaska Conservation Camps for youth.”

The doors open at 4:30 p.m. and dinner will be served at 6:30 p.m. There will be raffles, auctions and drawings for firearms and other merchandise donated by local merchants to raise funds for the FNRA programs. You can purchase tickets online at www.friendsofnra.org or contact Denny Hamann at 373-5938 for more information.

If you are a hunter education instructor and would like to wish Maggie Lindsey farewell, a pot luck dinner at the Rabbit Creek Shooting Park, in the hunter education building, will be held on Sunday at 5 pm.

Lindsey has accepted a position as a project specialist coordinating the outdoor education programs for the State of South Dakota. Lindsey and her husband planned to eventually move to South Dakota and when the opportunity for this position came up, Lindsey felt she needed to give it a shot.

They’ll just be relocating a little sooner than they had anticipated.

Maggie is unique to the hunter education program in Alaska because she was an instructor long before she became an employee of ADF&G. She brought an instructor’s perspective to her position and, as a result, could readily relate to the volunteer instructors. She has spent many weekends and evenings teaching hunter education classes and promoting the program at fairs and sportsmen’s shows around the state.

Lindsey is also an avid bird hunter and dog trainer and participates in field trials with her dogs on a regular basis. She will be missed by many instructors here in the valley! For more information, call Lee Rodgers at 267-2372.

On Oct. 17th, at Evangelo’s Restaurant in Wasilla, the Alaska Outdoor Council will hold its 16th-annual Mat-Su Banquet and Fundraiser. The no-host bar opens at 6 p.m., and a prime rib and halibut dinner will be served at 7 p.m.

This banquet follows a format similar to that of the FNRA banquet with raffles, drawings and auctions for donated merchandise to raise funds. For ticket pricing and availability, you can e-mail aoc@alaskaoutdoorcouncil.org or call Rod Arno, the AOC Executive Director at 841-6849.

Both of these fundraiser banquets benefit organizations which do a lot to support shooting and the outdoor activities of Alaskans statewide and here in the Valley.

If you can, attend at least one banquet to show your support. If you can afford it, attend both.

I wrote about this third fundraiser a couple of weeks ago. The Brianna Gregory Foundation is a non-profit organization dedicated to improving the quality of life of children with life-threatening illnesses. The foundation was started by Neil and Lindy Moss to honor the memory of their daughter, Brianna.

Neil Moss is a hunter education instructor in the Valley and coaches a youth shotgun team at the Grouse Ridge Shooting Grounds. He is also an enthusiastic waterfowl hunter. Lindy Moss is secretary of the Upper Susitna Shooters Association and is an avid shooter in her own right.

This benefit dinner, scheduled for Oct. 30 at the Best Western at Lake Lucille in Wasilla, includes the dinner guests participating in a murder mystery themed, “Chaos in Camelot.”

The evening begins with cocktails at 5 p.m. The murder mystery begins promptly at 7 p.m. with dinner served at 7:30 pm. The dinner menu has your choice of “Forest Fowl” (honey thyme marinated Cornish game hen) or King’s Quarter of Roast Swine (sage and apple braised pork shoulder).

Tickets cost $50 each. Call 373-0961 to purchase or to find out more about available character role information. You can also visit the website: www.briannashope.org. Tickets must be purchased ahead of time — no tickets will be sold at the door.

Quoting Neil and Lindy Moss, “There are no causes more worthy to support than those that seek to offer hope and healing to sick children. With your help we will be able to make a difference in the lives of the children who fight for life everyday.”

Howard Delo is a retired fisheries biologist with the Alaska Department of Fish and Game. You can leave him a message by e-mailing sports@frontiersman.com.