November, 2003
Brigid O'Donoghue, founder of the United Special Sportsmen Alliance (USSA), a nonprofit organization which grants outdoor wishes to disabled and terminally ill children and adults throughout the USA, is nothing if not a hard worker. She is doing it again, putting together a hunt for twelve - yep, that's a dozen - special young folks.
Brigid's ambitions continue to impress me, and they continue to bear fruit as well. According to Brigid, USSA has helped provide 251 hunts and fishing trips to disabled and terminally ill folks in the past twelve months! Impressive, to say the least.
USSA's latest trip will take place later this month in southern Illinois, where the Illinois Department of Natural Resources (DNR) and Illinois Bowhunters Society (IBS) are each taking a hand in coordinating and hosting a deer hunt for a dozen special hunters. Their service to these hunters - and to hunting itself - is unmistakably grand, and deserves our thanks and support.
The hunters will travel from Kansas, Illinois, Oklahoma, Alabama, North Carolina, Missouri, and Louisiana. Medical conditions plaguing these young folks (ages range from 9 to 17) include cystic fibrosis, Crohn's disease, muscular dystrophy, brain injury with loss of vision, leaky heart valve, and some other stuff I can't even pronounce, much less imagine being diagnosed with. Some of these hunters are confined to wheelchairs, and others are not.
Illinois DNR will be providing permits for each of the hunters, one ground blind for each to use, and a site where the hunt will take place. There will be one mentor, or hunting partner, per hunter... some of them members of IBS. IBS will also scout the site before the hunt, set up the ground blinds, determine zones of fire for each hunter, and provide a meeting place for the hunters and their families. USSA acts as the agent of the special hunters, coordinating all of this and keeping everyone "in the loop."
At present, I'm told that the families and volunteer mentors will be paying out of their own pockets for travel, food, and accommodations. If you are interested in helping out financially, please contact Brigid O'Donoghue of USSA at biotec@tds.net and let her know.
I wish I could be there to help out on this hunt... I sure had a great time helping out on a USSA-coordinated hog hunt in Florida earlier this year. I just hope this hunt turns out to be as successful as our Florida hunt was! I'm sure Brigid will let me know how it turns out... and I will be sure to pass the word on to you, my readers.
