From Illinois' TribLocal.com, we learn about two youth groups who recently received generous NRA Foundation grants.

The area's Shooting Sports Committee Chair Tom Petrik says the $5000 grant is making a big difference for the youth: "Every grant we get is a step in the right direction for being able to provide all the program materials for all the age groups,” Petrik said.

Local Youth Receive Grants to Help Them Teach Shooting Sports

Two Venturing Crews of the Northwest Suburban Council in Mt. Prospect, IL, have each received a grant from the Friends of NRA state grant fund for Illinois. Both Crews of youth and their adult leaders will use the equipment to increase their ability to teach shooting sports at the Boy Scout camps they serve.

Venturing is the newest program of the Boy Scouts of America, and provides programs of citizenship, leadership, service, community & family, outdoors, and fitness. Each Crew decides whether they want to be all female, all male, or co-ed. The youth who make up these Venturing Crews are 14 to 21 years old, adult leaders over 21. Venturing participants learn the skills for their specialty through leadership, group activities, adult association, recognition, high adventure and by teaching others.

Crew 477, composed of the staff at Camp Napowan in Wild Rose, WI, received a $5000 grant that will allow them to purchase some new firearms and archery equipment for their rifle, archery, and shotgun ranges at the camp. Crew 478, comprised of the staff for Camp Lakota, Woodstock, IL, also received a $5000 grant that will allow them to purchase some pellet guns for older Scouts to use, gun vaults for equipment storage and a lockable ammunition cabinet. In addition, they will receive both youth and adult bows and assorted archery equipment to use at their camp, equipment that is also loaned out to local scout districts to hold Day Camp programs for Cub Scouts.

Read the entire story.

If you're in the northern Illinois area, check out the upcoming Friends of NRA banquet, set for September 30 at Atlantis Banquets in Arlington Heights.

Here are your Friends of NRA events for the coming week, courtesy of Nicole McMahon. Banquet season is beginning to wind down and Labor Day Weekend will see many people squeezing in a vacation before summer ends, but there are still plenty of events ahead.

The piece of Friends of NRA merchandise we're highlighting this week is the U.S. Military Cartridge Board.

Spanning military campaigns that shaped the American nation; from the civil war up to modern-day conflicts, this set is an asset to any history and firearm fan's collection. Cartridges ranging from the smallest 5.56 x 35 Air Force Survival up to 50BMG and solid brass 12GA shell are beautifully laid on a tan background with an NRA gold foil logo.

09/02/2010
Batesville, Arkansas
Lake Charles, Louisiana
Le Sueur, Minnesota
Morgantown, West Virginia

09/07/2010
Harrison, Arkansas

NRA Clubs & Associations has opened registration for the year's final NRA Club University September 25 at the Albuquerque Grand Airport Hotel in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Register online now to save $5 dollars off the $40 registration fee.

Take the afternoon and learn how to improve your club's operations, increase membership, and become a part of the public. It's a a unique one-day forum where NRA Club University covers everything from marketing, to grant application, and business planning. The event is open to anyone with an interest in the shooting sports.

“You have to be on top of your game in today's economy,” said Clubs & Associations Marketing Manager Son Nguyen. “Whether you’re a range, a club, or a store, we can give you tips on gathering information, making facility improvements, and communicating with the public. Come learn!”

Members of the New Mexico Shooting Sports Association and operation experts are joining NRA staff for the seminar. And as a special edition to the Albuquerque Club U, we're bringing in finance and promotions expert Tom Shay to share the promotional techniques and management schemes he developed while simultaneously running three family businesses. 

Sound like a good way to spend the day? Then sign up now at https://www.nrahq.org/clubs/club_university/registration.asp. Still not sold? Then contact NRA Clubs & Associations at (800) NRA-CLUB (672-2582) or clubs@nrahq.org. They'll have all the answers you need.

Thanks to NRAStore™ Merchandise Buyer Brian Evans for the following report:

Travel with peace of mind knowing that you’ll never be locked out again and your valuables will always be there when needed. The durable, all-metal NRA HitchSafe™ converts your vehicle’s receiver into a vault that can store spare keys, cash and up to 2 credit cards. This safe is great for outdoor activities where keys can be cumbersome or prone to loss. Patented hitch pins secure the HitchSafe™ inside the receiver via two sliding bars that can only be accessed through a locked drawer with over 10,000 possible combinations.

The HitchSafe™ easily installs/uninstalls in seconds with no tools required! An attractive, fitted NRA dust cover conceals and protects the combination dials. An embedded metal clip inside the cover adds extra strength and security. We’ve even included an extra blank, black dust cover (a $10 value) for free! Fits standard 2” receivers (2005-current Toyota Tacoma's and the 07-current Tundra hitch receivers require optional longer pins contact manufacturer for the pins).

The NRA HitchSafe™ is available at the NRAstore™ for $69.95. For more information, visit www.nrastore.com or call 1-888-607-6007. Be sure to request you free copy of the NRAstore™ catalog!

Friendsof NRA is putting on a contest through their Facebook page to get more people involved and connected with social media. Friends of NRA committee members, volunteers and supporters are encouraged to participate in the contest and qualify their committee for a grand prize.

The three easy steps to enter your committee are:

1. "Like" Friends of NRA on their Facebook Fan Page.
2. Find the post: "Comment here with your name and committee to enter the Friends of NRA Facebook Contest!"
3. Post a comment with your name and committee.

The committee with the most comments by the end of September 3rd will win national promotion for their event, which includes a story on the Friends of NRA website's hompage, a nod on NRAblog, being named in a press release and receiving a Special Edition Dick Kirby Turkey Call (1 of 250, to auction at your next banquet).

"Our Friends of NRA committees are always looking for ways to get promotion and merchandise for their banquets," said Senior Event Services Coordinator Nicole McMahon. "So why not do a contest that will give them just that?"

Spread the word — Don't delay, "Like" the Friends of NRA today!

The NRA partners with many youth cooperative organizations, from the Boy Scouts of America to 4-H. Thousands of young people receive training from NRA Certified Instructors each year through our Cooperative Youth Organizatons Program.

The NRA Whittington Center is involved with a variety of these programs. The Center will host young people from Wyoming for an educational clinic in early September. The entrance to the Whittington Center is pictured at right.

From the Platte County Record Times:

Platte County Shooters head to NRC Tourney

3 members of the 4-H Shooting Sports Club have qualified for a trip to Raton, New Mexico, with the National Rifle Association.

The four day shooting clinic is an opportunity only 12 shooting participants from Wyoming have qualified to attend, and Platte County’s Ashley Johnson, Leo Perez, Jr., and Toby Tackitt, will be the first Platte County shooters to attend the event in eight years.

“I feel nervous, but I’m happy,” Johnson said, adding she was happy Perez and Tackitt will also be able to represent Platte County. “I’m excited.”

Perez said shooters qualify to attend the event by making the top scores in 5 shooting disciplines throughout the State.

Read the entire story here.

It's hard to believe the Youth Education Summit (YES) was almost two months ago. The forty-five students who made the trek to Washington, D.C. for a once in a lifetime educational experience didn't leave us empty handed. A number of students took the time to thank the handful of NRA employees who planned and ran the seven-day event with their own special brand of thank yous.

This board of thanks belongs to Amber Niblock-Shorter, who was one of the key planners and executors of this year's Youth Education Summit.

"It was a pleasure to serve as host to all those wonderful young adults," Amber said. "Witnessing how they engaged during our workshops, their enthusiasm during the tours - or while listening to our speakers - made me feel proud to be part of such a unique program. "

While in the nation's capital, this year's group of rising high school juniors and seniors learned the significance of the U.S. Constitution and the Bill of Rights and the importance of being an active citizen. The students toured the U.S. Capitol, the National Archives Museum, the Pentagon, the NRA National Firearms Museum, and many of the memorials and monuments in Washington, D.C.

Think YES sounds like something you'd like to be part of? Then what are you waiting for? It's never too early to sign up for next year's Y.E.S. — June 20 - 26, 2011. The application deadline is Valentine's Day, February 14, 2011.

Learn more about YES and its scholarship opportunities by visiting www.friendsofnra.org/yes.

From Colorado's Telluride Daily Planet:

Shooting in the dark 

While the rain doesn’t stop the elk and deer from roaming, it does cost hunters valuable target practice time, but the Ten Ring Gun Club outside of Nucla now has an indoor shooting range that will soon be open to archers as well as gun enthusiasts.

“We’ve had this Quonset hut for 15 years,” said club vice-president Forrest Herring, “and now, with a $20,000 grant from Friends of the NRA (National Rifle Association), we were finally able to make a big push in the spring and get it useable.”

The hut is now insulated and heated, and equipped with indoor lights, as well as a classroom at the back, which has been used for Hunter Safety courses. The walls of the classroom can be removed, expanding the 50-foot gun range to 60 feet for archery target practice.

“We’re set up for your basic small-bore rifle and pistol,” said Herring, “but nothing big inside.” Outdoors, the range stretches toward the La Sal peaks, and spills over a hill to include an electric trap thrower and skeet house, several sighting benches, and a three-gun shoot.

Continue reading here.

Learn more about the NRA's grassroots fundraising banquets -- Friends of NRA.

This year's NRA Youth Education Summit (Y.E.S.) took place in July. Its participants have since returned to their homes across the United States. Julia Parker, a $500 scholarship winner, recently made the news in her home state of New Hampshire.

From Nashuatelegraph.com:

Merrimack teen awarded scholarship by NRA

Seventeen-year-old home school student Julia Parker, of Merrimack, has grown up learning the importance of the Constitution and the Bill of Rights – especially the right to bear arms.

“Our parents have always tried to give us that love of the Constitution to help us understand so we can be forces for good in our country and in our lives,” Parker explained. To prepare for her political science minor at Brigham Young University this fall, Parker was searching around for political conferences when she came across the National Rifle Association’s National Youth Education Summit in Washington, D.C., and found it tailor-made to her interests and hobbies.

... From July 12-18, Parker took an expenses-paid trip to Washington, D.C., to participate in the NRA summit that motivates students to become active and knowledgeable U.S. citizens by learning the significance of the Constitution and understanding the federal government.

“It was really neat for one thing, to be there with so many other youth that share your values, that help you grow,” Parkers said. “They all have this passion for the Constitution, so you really feel like you’re with your colleagues. We were all on the same level, understanding how important this was.”

One of 45 high school students from approximately 40 states across the county, Parker, the only representative from New Hampshire, spent a week of her summer touring the Pentagon, the National Archives, numerous war memorials, the Capitol and the Marine Corps base, Quantico.

She also had the opportunity to chat with Congressman Duncan D. Hunter, R-Calif., and NRA Vice President Wayne LaPierre, among other things.

“The week was quite packed, but it was worth every minute of it,” Parker said.

Read the entire story here -- and stay tuned for more on this talented group. One 2010 Youth Education Summit participant will walk away with the program's grand prize, and you'll read about it first on NRAblog.com

National Instructor Trainer John Howard was invited on Tom Gresham's Gun Talk Sunday, August 22. Howard presented information on the NRA's Certified Instructor program. He discussed the necessary steps to attain the status of NRA Certified Instructor.

"We've gotten a good response from your interview," a producer e-mailed Howard. "Many listeners really liked hearing about the training program, but even more liked hearing about how the trainers price and advertise their classes."

Click here to listen to the interview -- Howard begins around 4:44.

"Our courses are considered the national standard," Howard told Gresham at the beginning of the interview. "What we do is we take experienced shooters and provide them with a lesson plan. We set the objectives. We prepare experienced shooters to actually teach and pass on that experience." 

Interested in becoming an NRA Certified Instructor? Learn more here.

Here are your Friends of NRA events being held around the country this week, courtesy of Nicole McMahon.

But first, continuing with our trend of highlighting an item you will find at Friends of NRA banquets this year, this is the 2010 Print of the Year:

From award-winning and world-renowned wildlife artist, Pat Pauley, comes the breathtaking 2010 Friends of NRA Print of the Year “Autumn Gold”. In his latest painting, Pauley depicts a regal, mature whitetail buck accompanied by two doe enjoying a tranquil streamside setting in the fall.

The sunrise sets a stunning scene where Pauley brilliantly unifies the contrasting features of a whitetail deer’s graceful beauty and physical intensity and uses the piercing, cool blue hues flowing throughout the stream to balance the warm shades of fall.

"I wanted to do a painting of a mature Whitetail that captures the essence of that moment when you get a glimpse of a monster buck, only to realize that he has already spotted you and you know that it is only a matter of seconds before he will take off. I try to capture those fleeting moments in nature with my paintings." said Pauley. "They are the times when each of us as outdoorsman have experienced something in nature that make our hearts pound and leave you in awe.

Friends of NRA has published Pauley’s painting as a limited edition giclee on stretched canvas, printed with fade resistant inks. Each comes in a dark rustic colored frame with linen liner and measures 35 1/4” x 25 1/4” with frame. This edition is signed by the artist and numbered through 1,125. Printed and framed in the USA.

A complete list of this week's banquets after the jump. More...

Philip Schreier, Senior Curator from the NRA National Firearms Museum, files another report from the Boy Scouts of America's National Jamboree in Ft. A.P. Hill, Virginia:

NRA Rocks Boy Scouts of America National Jamboree: Part 7
By: Philip Schreier

Ft. A. P. Hill, VA - Of the five different areas Scouts can enjoy shooting at the BSA National Scout Jamboree, the newest Action Area is called Buckskin Games. Here Scouts experience numerous facets of life as a Mountain Man in the 1840's. Of course, no Mountain Man experience is complete without a chance to shoot a black powder percussion rifle. Here Scouts meet up with period clad NRA safety instructors and learn a bit not only about safe firearms handling but also on black powder shooting.

Once up on the firing line, they get personal instruction on loading the gun themselves and then they fire a .50 caliber Lyman percussion rifle at a playing card which they get to keep as a souvenir. They say that once you smell black powder on the firing line, it gets in your blood for life. At 300 Scouts a day at each of the 4 Action Centers, that adds up to a lot of future black powder enthusiasts!

----------------------------------------------------------------

Be sure the check out part One, Two, Three, Four, Five and Six of Senior Curator Philip Schreier's reports on the Boy Scouts of America's 100th Anniversary at the National Jamboree in Ft. A.P. Hill, Virginia.

An NRA Day event in Wisconsin was recently featured in the Columbus Journal. Sponsored by the Dodge County Friends of NRA, the event allowed area families to try their hand and the shooting sports and enjoy a day of family fun.

Sportsman's association holds family day

NRA Family Day was held July 31 at the Columbus Sportsman's Association (CSA), sponsored by Dodge County Friends of the NRA.

After a safety briefing, families were given hands-on instruction for shooting shotguns, single action shooting (cowboy), pistol and rifle by volunteer instructors associated with the Dodge County Friends of the NRA and CSA members.

Camp Director Steve Steinbeck would like to thank the volunteers who made the event possible: Rick Tebeest, Art Nevinf, Jerry Quiesser, DuWayne Kuenzi, Irene Pawlisch, Paul Mayer and Mike Fredricks.

NRA Day is an annual summer event at CSA made possible by the volunteers, NRA and CSA support.

Jamie Henning of Beaver Dam shared how he had not hunted or shot since childhood and had learned about the event at a recent hunter safety course in Beaver Dam that he had taken with his son in hopes of returning to the woods. During the day he told everyone, "Next year, we are bringing my wife. She would love this." Henning's word of the day was, "Wow!"

This day provided an opportunity for people to experience all kinds of firearm disciplines unfamiliar to them in a safe educational range environment. There was a good deal of friendly competition for bragging rights between spouses and siblings at some stations, making it a fun relaxed day for everyone.

Because the Friends of the NRA supports the 4-H shooting sports projects, a special invitation went out to Columbia County 4-H families to use the day to explore shooting sports. Starting in January 2011, CSA will be offering 4-H courses in wildlife/ecology, air pistol and archery. Any 4-H youth may participate as long as they are registered in that specific shooting sports project. Go to www.csa12.com for the complete 4-H shooting sports schedule, including rifle and muzzle loader.

Continue reading here.

Interested in attending a NRA Day event? Find one in your area.

 

This week we'll be highlighting the Friends of NRA's 2010 Knife of the Year.

Using natural raw materials, Silver Stag Knives captured the essence of a bygone era in this unique, functional and attractive one-of-a-kind damascus drop-point skinner.

Each knife has been hand-forged by welding multiple layers of steel together and through folding and rewelding the metal, producing an attractive layered pattern on the blade. This combination of hard and soft steels creates blade flexibility, toughness and produces invisible serrations on the edge that aid in cutting.

The handle is made from North American Elk Antler and monogrammed with the NRA logo on the handle and brass finger guard. The 2010 Knife of the Year comes complete with a hand stitched, top quality cow hide leather sheath with brass snap and studs and matching NRA monogram stamped into the leather.

Event listings after the jump. More...

Friday night at the Professional Outdoor Media Association's (POMA) Fifth Annual Business Conference started with a smattering of NRAblog bags and ended with the traditional auction and raffle. Like we told you earlier, NRA's Deputy Executive Director of General Operations Andrea Cerwinske encouraged the crowd to use NRA as a resource for their work.

"Our programs are a natural fit for you freelance writers to cover," she said. "Come be a part of the action."

As the night rolled on, the crowd cringed and celebrated as raffle and silent auction winners were eventually unveiled. Highlights included an Olympus E-P1 Digital Camera, a Smith & Wesson M&P15 PC Tactical Rifle, a pair of Russell Scent-Stop pants, and a Quebec Spring Bear Hunt for two.