Ducks Unlimited banquet/fundraiser slated for Saturday

Thursday, April 17, 2008

The Mountain Home AFB chapter of Ducks Unlimited will be holding its 22nd annual dinner on April 19 at The Gunfighter Club on base starting at 5 p.m.

The event will be raising money for wetland conservation through a live auction, silent auction, raffles and various games.

The organization's hopes to gain sponsors who would donate $250 a year to restore one acre of wetland for life.

During the live auction, some of the items that will be put up for bids include an autographed football from the 2007 BSU football players and coaching staff (donated by the BSU Athletic Department) and a print entitled "Diligence," painted by the Ducks Unlimited International Artist of the Year, Anthony Padgett.

During the silent auction, some of the items that will be put up for bids include a decorative duck decoy set and a bronze sculpture titled "Determination" (the statue is a man in a canoe with his dog, paddling during a stormy gale).

The various games include a heads and tail game with the prize a hunting blind or a "coffin" blind. Also, there will be coffee cups sold that will be filled with raffle tickets. Prizes include a Terry Redling canvas painting entitled "Evening Retreat" and two gift certificates from Time-Warner Cable.

The organization will be selling Ducks Unlimited coins for a chance to win a bronze sculpture entitled "Dabbling Duo" (a 12-inch bronze statue of two mallard ducks).

Ducks Unlimited also will be holding a wingspan drawing, where the guests can buy a large binding of raffle tickets (about as long as their wingspan) and whoever wins receives a Mossburg over and under shotgun donated by Les Schwab.

For participating in the general raffle, the guests will have a chance to win in the bonus raffle where the prize is a Beretta White Onyx dinner gun underwritten by DeMeyer Furniture.

The event will have a children's table and every child in attendance will be put into a drawing to win from a long list of merchandise, including a camping set, a Ruger 10-22 autoloading rimfire, tickets to "Roaring Springs" and tickets to Edwards Stadium 22 Theater in Boise.

"The kids are the future of wetland conservation, so we've got to them excited to be there," said Ducks Unlimited chairman Chris Curtis.

The event will have a sponsors table, for all those who donate. That table's prizes include seven different guns and various merchandise, including decoys, optical sets and hunting gear.

Ducks Unlimited, a volunteer-based organization began in 1937 during the Dust Bowl when North America's drought-plagued waterfowl populations had plunged to unprecedented lows.

Ducks Unlimited's sole mission is to conserve, restore and to manage wetlands and associated habitats for North America's waterfowl. The organization is now the "world's largest and most efficient private waterfowl and wetlands conservation organization."

Today, Ducks Unlimited is backed by over 1,000,000 supporters and has conservation projects throughout the United States, Canada, Mexico and in key areas of Latin America.

and the Caribbean.

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