Youth Outdoors Unlimited banquet coming March 4
File photo Aiden Kemp and his guides look through the scrapbook detailing his hunting trip at the 2016 Youth Outdoors Unlimited banquet. The 2017 banquet is scheduled for March 4.
MOSES LAKE — Tickets are available now for the Youth Outdoors Unlimited banquet, scheduled for March 4 at the Best Western Lakefront Inn, 3000 West Marina Dr. Doors open at 4:30, with dinner, a silent and live auction.
Some of the youths who went on fishing or hunting trips in 2016 and bagged game will receive their trophies during the banquet.
Youth Outdoors Unlimited provides children and teens with physical disabilities, life-threatening or debilitating illnesses with a chance to go hunting or fishing. The non-profit organization started in 2011, and took three kids on hunting and fishing trips. More than 10 kids are already signed up for 2017, “and we expect that we’ll do 20 trips this year,” YOU founder Cindy Carpenter said.
That’s a lot of growth, and Carpenter said she didn’t expect anything like it. “No. Never. And that’s been one of the things that’s been so exciting – the number of kids that we’ve been able to help.”
It couldn’t have happened, Carpenter said, without the help of people all over the Columbia Basin, and beyond. “We have a very generous community.”
Kids have hunted bears in Canada and antelope in Wyoming, gone fishing in the Columbia and the Cowlitz, hunted deer and elk all over eastern Washington. 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.
But neither fishing nor hunting is a sure thing, so the hunters-fishermen and their families get the entire outdoor experience. Kids get to go camping, sometimes going out in a boat, sometimes driving the back roads, sometimes waiting in a blind.
Sometimes there’s camping and campfires, and there’s always camp food. Organizers also take into account any special dietary needs.
Before they go hunting or fishing kids go shopping, to ensure they have the proper clothing and equipment.
Organizers are looking for items for the silent and live auctions, Carpenter said. People who have items to donate can contact her at you@youthoutdoorsu.org or 509-431-1604.
Tickets are available on the organization’s website or by calling Carpenter.
Cheryl Schweizer can be reached via email at education@columbiabasinherald.com.