~courtesy of The Scranton Journal
Another successful fundraising banquet was hosted by the Greene County Gobblers Chapter of the National Wild Turkey Federation on Saturday evening in Clover Hall in Jefferson. About 120 people were in attendance to enjoy the delicious meal catered by Lidderdale Country Store.
Fred Long serves as president of the organization. Committee members include Susan Cort, Kevin Devilbiss, Dean Dozier, Jeff Gorsuch, Mike Minnihan and Aaron Sloan.
Auctioneer Kevin Lentz cried the live auction, urging bidders to pay a little more. “It’s only money!” was his mantra.
The top item on the auction was the gun of the year, an Affinity 20-gauge semi automatic with a winning bid of $1,250.
There were 42 items on the live auction which brought just over $5,000. The draw of the night was the sale of 14 knives, 12 on the live auction and two on the silent auction. The buyers then had the opportunity to win a select group of prizes including a couple of guns, gift cards, cooler and much more. The winners were picked by two young volunteers, pulling numbers out of a bucket.
The sale of the knives brought in about $2,000.
Sponsor members listed were Rick and Karla Janning, Greene County Soil and Water Conservation District, Hamilton Redi-Mix, Doc’s Stadium Bar and Grill, Home State Bank, Darrin and Krystal Ross, Dr Steven and Julie Karber, Countywide Electric, Bert and Marlene Deal, Fred and Sandy Long and Edward Jones – Dean Dozier. Jefferson Family Dentistry and Jefferson Telecom were listed as underwriters.
A number of youngsters attended. Known as Jakes by NWTF (Juniors Acquiring Knowledge, Ethics and Sportsmanship), the organization is dedicated to informing, educating and involving youth in wildlife conservation and the wise stewardship of natural resources.
It was noted through the years, NWTF has contributed $40,000 towards the purchase of public land in Greene County.
The NWTF’s ten-year Save the Habitat. Save the Hunt. Initiative outlines an aggressive effort to conserve four million acres of upland habitat, create hunting access to 500,000 additional acres, and recruit 1.5 million hunters. With 1.5 years remaining, the organization has surpassed all three national goals at 4.449 million acres conserved, 678,684 acres of hunting access gained and 1.531 million new hunters created.
Since September 2012, NWTF in Iowa has helped conserve more than 15,700 acres and provided more than 2,900 acres of additional hunting access through land acquisition. The match rate for habitat projects has been 4:1 and for acquisition projects 40:1 throughout the initiative.
