Wild Game Dinners and Softball?
This is a picture of our church softball team I played on, and managed for over 25 years. The church along with Victory Flooring sponcered the team. Back in 2001 we had quite a season! Monroe is “BIG” on softball, and we have a fantastic complex in Munson Park. Four back to back diamonds, and a league director (Mark Reinhardt) who knows his job inside and out. Eight of the thirteen guys in the picture are related to me, with three brothers, and my son being part of the team. The guy on the far right is our Pastor Dr. John Piippo, who at 52 years old led the team in triples. Pastor John is also a blogger for the Monroe Evening News and writes a blog called “Discovering The Real Jesus In Monroe.” It’s worth a look if you get a chance.
You may wonder “Where is he going with this?” Well about twenty-nine years ago we did our first wild-game dinner, at the church, to raise money for softball uniforms. It was a huge success, and was well received by the community. I always made sure I had, not only the norms., but the not-so-common also! I’d have muskrat, buffalo, alligator, moose, elk, caribou, bear, pheasant, rabbit, squirrel, turkey, duck, deer, wild boar, and antelope. We started including an auction, along with the dinner, and we were soon helping fund a church auditorium, as well as other causes. Over the 15 years, we put this on, we raised over $130,000 dollars, and made alot of new friends in the community.
Recently I have been asked to head up another dinner/auction to benefit our India missions. Our Pastor Emeritus Joe Atkinson leads a team (yearly) for several weeks in India, teaching pastors our “Full Life In Christ” series, developed by Pastor Atkinson. On top of that, a group of 400 pastors from Bangladesh wants us to bring the program to their impoverished nation. The cost is staggering, and in order to facilitate such a mission, everone must put their hand to the plow! I have asked that each family in the church donate at least one item for the auction, and we have a team searching for corporate sponsors as well. Because of time restraints we are going to go with a simple meal of hot dogs and sloppy joes. It’s been a few years since I have been involved in this type of fund raiser, and I’m really looking forward to an evening of fun and fellowship.
Wild game dinners are a great way to reach out to the community of non hunters, and bring them along side us, in preserving our hunting heritage. They are fun, inexpensive, and you get to meet some great people along the way. If your thinking of putting one on, and need some help (advice) I’ll be more than glad to try and answer your questions.
Mike