Youth Outdoors Unlimited banquet draws big crowd
Owen Bush (left) is presented with a trophy from his Youth Outdoors Unlimited hunting trip by taxidermist Bob Kenner.
MOSES LAKE - Kids who live with disabilities want to do, and often can do, the same things as other kids - say, go fishing, or maybe do a little hunting. It just takes a little tweaking of the arrangements. That's the idea behind Youth Outdoors Unlimited, which held its annual fundraising banquet Saturday night.
The crowd overflowed the banquet room at the Best Western, and held silent and live auctions for an array of items, ranging from catered meals to original wood art to handmade display cabinets to gift baskets. The money raised goes to support hunting and fishing trips for disabled youths.
It's a totally local effort, supported entirely by volunteers and donations, said Jennifer Newhouse, whose husband Chris is the treasurer and a board member. There are similar groups around the nation, but YOU is unique to North Central Washington, Newhouse said.
The effort was the brainchild of Cindy Carpenter and her husband Curt, who wanted to see disabled children, or children fighting life-threatening illnesses, have some of the same adventures as other kids, Newhouse said. And it really is all about the adventure, since neither fishing nor hunting is a sure thing.
Kids sometimes go camping or out in a boat. Sometimes they drive back roads and still other times wait in a hunting blind. Sometimes there are campfires and there's always camp food. "The whole nine yards. It's the adventure," Newhouse said.
It's all done with donations of time, money, equipment and expertise.
Fishing and hunting guides donate their services, landowners donate the use of their land, outfitters donate equipment. If a kid gets a deer or birds or catches a fish, professionals donate the meat processing. Taxidermists donate their time to mount the trophy.
Youth Outdoors Unlimited has access to an all-terrain wheelchair with tracks, purchased through a company's fundraising drive. The group's van, complete with wheelchair lift, was a private donation. "We have a lot of wonderful volunteers," Newhouse said.
Each participant was the star of a slide show during the banquet, showing where they went and how they did. Madison Curry and Preston Alvarado went fishing, and Owen Bush, Bob Hunt and Zack Winkle went hunting.
The Newhouses went hunting with Zack and his family; Zack had aunts and uncles living in the Pacific Northwest and came from Missouri to go hunting. His family "got to see him do something that they had not perceived he could even do," Newhouse said.
It's a lesson the Newhouses learned in their family; their daughter lives with a disability. "You're only as limited as you want to be." People who have disabilities "give us opportunities to experience life in different ways," Newhouse said.
People who want to donate, or who want more information, can visit the group's website, www.youthoutdoorsu.org.