Group taking ill, disabled children hunting

MOSES LAKE - A new non-profit organization plans to give terminally ill and disabled children a chance to hunt and fish.

The non-profit group, Youth Outdoors Unlimited, started after founder and President Cindy Carpenter went big-game hunting for the first time. She described the experience as the best thing ever.

"I think it was the anticipation for that big buck to come around the corner," she said. "It's like playing hide-and-go-seek when you're a kid. I just really liked it. I liked because outdoors and the idea that you didn't necessarily have any control over whether you got anything."

The hunting experience was coupled with caring for a friend dying of cancer. Carpenter spent every day helping him in the nursing home, she said.

"I truly understood the joy of giving without expecting anything in return," she stated. "What I found was that, in trying to be the blessing, I was the one truly blessed in the end."

It left her wanting to help others.

She discovered a Mississippi group, called A Hunt Above. The group arranges for terminally-ill and developmentally-disabled children to go on a hunting or fishing trip. Carpenter wanted to start something similar, she said.

She, along with six other people, decided to start the group. They plan to take two guided hunting and two fishing trips this year.

"We want each trip to be that kid's day and that kid's trip," Carpenter said. "We gather the people together who loved kids and loved hunting."

The first child participating is Spencer Kimbro, a 10-year-old boy, who was born seven and a half weeks early with Spina Bifida. He has spent most of his life in and out of the hospital, wrote parents, Robin and Dan Kimbro, in the Youth Outdoors Unlimited pamphlet.

"If I saw a child like Spencer I would tend to be afraid of saying anything, so you don't say anything and these families feel really alienated," Carpenter said. "You start to go there's a way to bridge the gap. I think there's going to be some education and mending."

The group is planning to hold its first fundraiser on March 31, starting a 6:30 p.m. at Sporty's Steakhouse. Tickets cost $40.

"We're having a live and a silent auction," Carpenter said. "We've got some great items. Somebody donated a pig ... We've got two or three fishing trips."

For more information, contact Carpenter at 509-431-1604 or e-mail YOU@youthoutdoorsunlimitedwa.com.