Registration still open for YOU golf tournament
Maegan Weiler, Yakima, poses with the bear she harvested while on a Youth Outdoors Unlimited bear hunt. A golf tournament to raise money for the organization is scheduled for Saturday.
MOSES LAKE — Registration is still open for the third annual Youth Outdoors Unlimited benefit golf tournament, scheduled for 1 p.m. Saturday at Moses Lake Golf Club, 1373 Road F.
Admission includes a cart, time on the driving range, snacks on the course, a barbecue dinner and entertainment. The format is a four-person scramble, with a shotgun start. Cost is $500 per team.
Youth Outdoors Unlimited provides kids facing physical challenges or debilitating (or life-threatening) illnesses with fishing and hunting trips. The organization started in 2011, taking three children fishing and hunting. In 2015 YOU provided trips for 14 kids.
Five kids already have gone bear hunting in 2016, said YOU director Cindy Carpenter. Zach Sims of Spokane, Nate Wood of Centralia and Alex Snyder of Chehalis each came home with a bear. Bailey Miller, Centralia, and Maegan Weiler of Yakima went fishing on the Quinault Reservation.
Two kids, Connor Steiger, Idaho, and Jaymee Welch, Moses Lake, got the chance to go elk hunting earlier this month, Carpenter said. Still on the agenda are two fishing trips, a fall bear hunt, four deer hunting trips and a fall elk hunt.
Some of the kids who’ve gone hunting and fishing, and their families, will be at the golf tournament, helping out and sharing stories of their adventures.
Neither fishing nor hunting is a sure thing, so the kids and their families get the whole outdoor experience. The kids get to go camping, sometimes go out on a boat, sometimes drive the back roads, sometimes wait in a blind. Sometimes there’s camping and campfires, and there’s always camp food.
The kids go shopping before they go hunting, to ensure they’ve got the right kind of clothing and equipment. The organizers also take into account any dietary needs when planning the camping trip.
Landowners donate the use of their property, and guides donate their services. Outfitters donate equipment. If a kid gets an animal or catches a fish, professionals donate the meat processing. Taxidermists donate their time to mount the trophy.
The kids range far and wide, hunting bear in Canada, fishing on the Columbia and the Cowlitz, hunting antelope in Wyoming. Kids go fishing in Puget Sound and hunting for elk and deer in eastern Washington.
People who want to register for the tournament, or donate, can contact Carpenter, 509-431-1604. Online registration is available at www.charityauction.bid/YOUCharityGolf.
Cheryl Schweizer can be reached via email at education@columbiabasinherald.com.