NRA Foundation grant helps West Virginia high school realize marksmanship dream

Parkersburg, West Virginia - NRA Foundation grants help a number of people and programs. Out of these, one of the greatest benefits is supporting the shooting sports in local communities.

The Parkersburg South High School's Air Force Junior ROTC in Parkersburg, West Virginia is a great example. Two year ago the program became interested in starting a marksmanship team but had no available funds. After searching for options to help them realize their goal, officials finally put in for a NRA Foundation grant. The request fell into the hands of Steve DiBetta, chairman of the local Blennerhassett Friends of NRA committee, who did everything he could to help them out.

More on how NRA Foundation grants can help ...

Top Friends of NRA committee's chairman visits NRA headquarters from the last frontier

Who is Denny Hamann? The chairman of the Alaska State Friends of NRA, Denny Hamann is one of the most dedicated Friends of NRA volunteers in the country. You could even say he's eaten, breathed, and slept NRA for the past several years.

Hailing from Wasilla, Alaska, Hamann is a pivotal piece of the puzzle for the Alaska State committee and Alaska Friends of NRA as a whole. And 'pivotal' really does justice considering how well he helped his committee in 2011.

This year the Alaska State Friends of NRA were recipients of the Most Outstanding Friends of NRA Committee Award, an honor granted to the committee who raised the most funds at a single Friends of NRA event. This was the first time Alaska State received the award and Hamann, who proudly accepted the award at the NRA Board Meetings last week, has high hopes they'll receive it again.

Nicole McMahon, our Senior Event Services Coordinator at NRA, was able to pull Hamann aside for a few minutes when he was in town and got to ask him a few questions about his history with the committee.

Read about what makes Friends of NRA's Denny Hamann tick below...

Money from Colorado Friends of NRA events goes to local projects

Photo courtesy Summit Daily / Paige Blankenbuehler

Last month the Summit County Shooting Range near Dillon, Colorado reopened to the public after undergoing a thorough renovation.

These renovations would not have been possible without the help of the Friends of NRA, who generously awarded the range with a grant to improve the facility.

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Gwen Chermack, NRA Field Representative for Colorado sent us this great story about Friends of NRA giving a generous grant to a local 4-H club and shooting range in Summit County.

Summit County, Colorado - The Board of County Commissioners and members of the Summit County 4-H recently accepted two grant awards from the Central Rockies Friends of the NRA to make improvements to the public shooting range and to provide support to the 4-H Shooting and Archery programs. The grant awards were $12,000 and $4,500 respectively and will help the County and 4-H make improvements to facilities and provide education and supplies for the many enthusiasts around the county. The grants were provided from fundraising events held throughout the year by Friends of the NRA.

More on NRA Grants working in Colorado ...

There's a new place for the public to shoot in Newton County

NRAHuntersRights.org ran a story this morning about another Public Range Fund success story down in Georgia:

GA: New NRA-Funded Shotgun Range Opens

Mansfield, Georgia - Trap and skeet enthusiasts have a new range to visit now that the Charlie Elliott Wildlife Center (CEWC) Shotgun Range officially opened Tuesday, according to the Georgia Department of Natural Resources (DNR), Wildlife Resources Division. 

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The NRA Foundation, through funds raised by Friends of NRA, has funded over 18,000 grants throughout the country. It has become America's leading charitable organization in the support of shooting sports and its grants total over $180 million.

Grants provide critical funding to firearm programs on the local, state, and national levels to ranges, shooting clubs and programs like the Eddie Eagle GunSafe Program.

The Coon Valley Conservation Club in Westby, Wisconsin recently received a NRA Foundation grant to make improvements to their grounds and the Westby Times has a great story about it.

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The Californian has a great article up about the Central California Friends of NRA, who recently awarded a local Boy Scouts troop a grant to repair their damaged shooting range.

Local Scout Council to receive grant to repair Basin Fire Damage

The Senior Field Representative for the Central California Friends of NRA has announced that the Monterey Bay Area Council of the Boy Scouts of America will receive a $55,000 grant to assist in repairs to the shooting range at Camp Pico Blanco.

During the Basin Complex fire the shooting range at Camp Pico Blanco near Big Sur, was damaged when the fire ran through the Scout Camp.

Consequently there was additional damage from flooding as a result of the runoff from the fire ravaged terrain. The fire also killed many of the trees in the area and those dead trees have fallen on the range facility adding to the destruction.

Read more about Friends of NRA helping the community at The Californian here.

After the rousing success of last November's webinar on Membership Recruitment and Retention, NRA's staff from the Clubs & Associations Department is holding another online session later this afternoon. Schedule for 1pm eastern, today's session focuses on three important aspects of the Association; Friends of NRA banquets, qualifying and applying for grants, and the Youth Education Summit (YES).

Question is, if it's happening today then why are we telling you now? Because the webinar filled up almost as soon as it was announced. Were it not for a few last minute cancellations, we probably wouldn't be saying anything at all. But now that there's room, we want to make sure that as many people as possible can benefit from this expert advice.

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Are you a Friend of NRA? If so, Friends of NRA wants to see one of your faces on the back page of the upcoming Traditions magazine. All you have to do is email your photo and why you call yourself a Friend of NRA to IamFriendsofNRA@nrahq.org and you could see yourself on Traditions magazine, the Friends of NRA Facebook page, or win yourself a Friends of NRA hat! The deadline to send in your photo and story is November 19th, so don't delay!