For the past three years Wired Outdoors has been raising money for "Hunt of A Lifetime" and special kids like Timmy Mickle, Arianna Evans and Matthew Ciarlone, but a little over 8 months ago, Kyle and I discussed the possibility of taking our fund raising to the next level. We wanted to have an event where we could send as many kids as possible on their dream hunts and little did we know the magnitude of what was about to take place.
After some serious deliberation we came up with the name for the event, Camo Cares. We felt this name best described the event we envisioned, all about Sportsmen and women taking care of each other. The name also embodied one of the values that all of us at Wired Outdoors hold dear - ALWAYS GIVE BACK!
Fryburg Sportsman's Club hosts the first annual Camo Cares
So began the planning of an event that the entire family could enjoy. Like they always say, one of the most important things is LOCATION, LOCATION, LOCATION and we knew the best place that we could hold the event was the Fryburg Sportsman's Club in Fryburg, Pennsylvania. With over 300 acres of rolling hills, fields and hardwoods with pavilions and food booths, it was the ideal location for our event. After several conversations with the club President, Pam Shattenberg, not only would the event be held at the Fryburg Sportsman's Club they went over and above to became a corporate sponsor. Special thanks to all those folks at the Fryburg Sportsman's Club for all their hard work and donations, we couldn't have done it without you!
Taking Aim on one of the two 30 Target Courses
The day was a full schedule of events including an archery shoot in the morning. The shoot had approximately 170 shooters from all across Pennsylvania with some of the best shooters you will ever see. The highlight for the shooters that day was a archer shoot off at the Plano Tough Buck. The way this event worked was all shooters would line up and shoot at an iron deer target with a 5" open circle over the vitals. Each shooter would only get one arrow and would begin at 20 yards, back up to 30, 40, 50 and so forth. During a round to win an All Weather Series Plano Bow Case two shooters ended up shooting all the way back to 90 yards! Yes, that is right, 5" inch circle at 90 yards. Truly an amazing display and the crowd roared with applause.
Me taking time to introduce some special kids and people, Arianna Evans, Douglas Fickel and Michael Ciarlone
After the archery shoot we had an opportunity to introduce some very special people to all the folks before the raffles began. This is what the event was all about and this year we were blessed with having our past recipients, Arianna Evans, Michael Ciarlone, the father of Matthew, who passed away with leukemia during our fund raising last year and this years recipient, Douglas Fickel. As usual I always find myself getting choked up when it comes to these kids and this year was no different. Each year I am so personally attached to each of the families it always becomes emotional. Most of you have heard Douglas' story but in case you haven't he is suffering from a disease called Ataxia-telangiectasia. A-T is like having muscular dystrophy, cystic fibrosis, cerebral palsy and cancer all rolled into one. This disease is also very rare and only 600 children in the United States have been diagnosed with this disease. A-T is a fatal genetic disease that causes progressive loss of muscular control, various types of cancer and immune system problems. Children with A-T are usually unable to walk by the age of ten and rarely survive their teens. If A-T wasn't enough, Doug was diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia, T-Cell on December 5, 2008. Douglas has spent almost 200 days in the hospital in 2009 and receives chemo every single day of his life, 365 days a year. With all of Douglas's issues he still loves to hunt and reminds us all of how precious are time in the outdoors is.
View the video below all about Douglas and Camo Cares!
This fall we will be hunting with Douglas in Maine for moose to air on our show Wired Outdoors. For more information on the program and when it will air, visit, WiredOutdoors.com.
Douglas, Co-hosts of Wired Outdoors, Kyle, Teresa and Jason and Corporate Sponsors Bobby Yeany of the Olsen-Hunter Group
After introducing the kids and distributing the awards to all the archery shoot winners, the raffles were underway. This year's raffle was unbelievable with tons of prizes including everything from a jet tub, guided hunts, guns, bows, and more. All of our corporate sponsors really stepped up and supplied thousands of dollars worth of products. We would like to thank everyone who donated this year.
Crowd gathers for the raffles
Once the raffles were complete we had an awesome lineup of bands beginning with Cherry Run Junction, then Attagurl Rex and ending with Leverage. The bands were packed and everyone had a blast. Thank you to all the bands and their members for helping making this a special day.
Couple having a great time at the bands!
Once it was all said and done, we had raised over $20,000.00 for our kids and "Hunt of A Lifetime". Far beyond our goals, expectations and wildest dreams. It is truly humbling and overwhelming at the same time. To see folks pull together in tough times like these and open their hearts and wallets to these very special kids, it is what being a sportsman is all about. So many times you see a guy sitting over a giant deer on tv saying, "This is what it is all about!" For us at Wired Outdoors, what happened on Saturday is what it is all about! Things like Camo Cares and the support we received from the community, sponsors, shooters, and fans makes me PROUD to call myself a sportsman.
We look forward to bringing you all the action of Douglas' hunt this fall on Wired Outdoors on the Sportsman Channel. From the bottom of my heart, THANK YOU all for your support and you should all be very proud of what you have helped us accomplish, we couldn't have done it without you!
Special Thank You to the event staff and all the committee members behind the scene, Gary Rex, Wayne Meier, Kirk Byerley, Wendy Wenner, Mike Weigle, Mike Bell, AJ Johnson, Al Hogue, Vaughn Stewart and Andy Traister.
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