The NRA Foundation has awarded 53 counties in Pennsylvania new grants for programs and events promoting and preserving the shooting sports. Field Representatives Kory Enck and Tom Baldrige, who coordinate the fundraising efforts for Pennsylvania, report that the success rests largely on the state's infrastructure of dedicated volunteers.
“We'll award just under $500,000 by the end of 2009 [to programs in Pennsylvania],” Enck said. “We reached 53 of 67 possible counties, averaging $7,000 per county, thanks to the hard work of our NRA volunteers throughout the state.”
Committees and programs across the state are putting that money to work. The Pennsylvania Youth Hunter Education Challenge, or YHEC, teaches approximately 250 youth firearm safety, responsibility, and outdoor skills each year.
“If they'd of had YHEC when I was a kid, I'd have been involved in it in a heartbeat,” Enck said. Enck reports that $17,500 went to the Pennsylvania Youth Hunter Education Challenge this year.
Additionally, $15,000 helped to fund a statewide leadership program for young adults called the Pennsylvania Youth Education Summit.
