S(up)porting youth

MOSES LAKE — Basin folks will have a chance to help make some youngsters’ dreams come true March 8.

The 14th annual Youth Outdoors Unlimited fundraiser auction will raise money to take Basin youth who are dealing with disabilities or life-threatening illnesses on guided hunting and fishing trips. Doors open at 4:30 p.m. at the Best Western Lake Front Hotel in Moses Lake on Saturday. 

“We’re excited to meet some really cool kids,” said Cindy Carpenter, founder and director of Y.O.U. “We’ve got one kid from Royal City and two from Moses Lake.” 

Heavy appetizers supplied by the Best Western, Carpenter said. Tucker Cool Auctioneers, based in Harrington, will conduct a live auction. Items up for bid include a custom wooden flag, a handmade cribbage board, tamales, fishing and hunting trips and a taxidermy raccoon, all on display on the auction website. More than a dozen firearms are also up for auction.  

This is Y.O.U.’s second auction of five this year, according to its website. There was one last month in Spokane, and there’s one coming up in Tri-Cities on March 29, one in the Tacoma area April 12 and one in Lewiston, Idaho, on May 3. 

Most years, the children who have gone on trips the year before attend the auction, where they’re presented with their trophies and have a chance to meet the people who contributed to their fun. This year, however, all three children will be at the auction, but two haven’t gone on their trips yet. The third went in February, but there wasn’t time to get his trophy mounted before the auction, Carpenter said.  

“We were planning on something and the families said ‘Hey, we need to push this out until next year,’” she said. “They were in the middle of cancer treatments or some other (reason).” 

The trips the youths can look forward to are exciting ones, she said. 

“We’ll be doing some more bear hunts in British Columbia this year,” Carpenter said. “We’ve got a couple in the Quinault (area). We’ve got several elk hunters this year and we’re working on our deer hunters.” 

Youth Outdoors Unlimited is still accepting applications from children and their families, Carpenter said. She can be reached at 509-431-1604. 

“If somebody knows a kid, they need to get hold of me,” she said. 

Youth Outdoors Unlimited auction 

Doors open at 4:30 p.m. March 8 

Best Western Lake Front Hotel 

3000 W. Marina Drive, Moses Lake 

Tickets available at https://bit.ly/YOUMLtix25 

    A bear trophy bagged on a Youth Outdoors Unlimited hunt is presented to its hunter at a previous Y.O.U. auction.
  

    This stuffed snacking raccoon is one of the more unusual items up for auction at the Youth Outdoors Unlimited auction Saturday at the Best Western Lake Front Hotel in Moses Lake.