This past weekend marked a return to some pre-pandemic fun after two years of having to cancel.

It was also a unique feeling for me as I returned to the event that originally got me involved in volunteering with the National Wild Turkey Federation over 16 years ago. That event was the Hunting Heritage Banquet Dinner in Watkins Glen, held by the Catherine Valley Long Spurs local chapter.

When I was a teenager, I helped set up for the banquet and would sell raffle tickets for a particular firearm during the banquet.

Mike Stamp, the gentleman that I learned most of my hunting skills from, was involved in the chapter and would pay for my meal (and 2 other teenagers that hunted with us) but we didn’t know he paid for our meals for until a few years later.

The banquet this year was bittersweet though. In January of 2021, my friend Thomas was in a motor vehicle accident where he passed away.

Thomas was only 26 and had been one of those other teenagers who helped at the banquets when I was in high school. He had become their chapter’s JAKES chairman, organizing a youth turkey hunt each spring. He had come to the banquets my local chapter held at the Port Crane Fire Hall as well as attending our state chapter leadership meetings. He was trying to become a state board member and had to attend one more meeting before he could be voted to the board when he passed away.

When Thomas passed away, his family requested donations to the NWTF in lieu of flowers. Some NWTF volunteers and I set a goal to get Thomas to a Life Member status with NWTF. This requires $5,000 of total life giving.

The NWTF tracks some life giving through sponsor memberships plus recorded donations. When he passed away, he had a little over $1,000 as his recorded life giving. The donations made after he passed totaled around another $1,000.

Last week I messaged Thomas’ sister on Facebook to ask her to talk to her parents and discuss if they were alright with me donating a wood US flag that I built to the banquet with the caveat that whatever it sold for had to be put towards Thomas’ life giving.

She messaged me back that night saying that they had no problem with it. She said that her parents had 3 prints that Thomas had bought at NWTF banquets that they wanted to donate back as well. She asked if I could help with that. I said absolutely and we set up a time for her to bring the prints to the banquet location. Once she dropped them off, I talked to the banquet committee about having the same caveat for the prints. They all agreed to have the money the prints sold for put into Thomas’ life giving.

When the doors opened, a steady stream of people began making their way into the venue. They walked around, buying chances on different raffle games, and looking at the auction items. I noticed quite a few people who I knew or recognized from volunteering years ago.

I spotted Bob Potter, a guy who took me hunting when I shot my first deer when I was 16. Then I realized his friend Neil was sitting across the table from him. Neil owned the land where I shot my first deer. I still have a picture of the three of us in a photo album of hunting and fishing pictures.

Once everyone went through the buffet line and was seated for dinner, Mike got up and make a thank you speech to the various businesses that had made donations as well as the committee for making the night happen. When he was done, he handed me the microphone. Luckily, I had written down some notes to help me get through.

I explained my donation of the wooden flag and pointed out the three prints on the auction tables that were Thomas’s and that whatever they sold for would be put under his life giving to help us get him to a Life Member status. When the night was done, the total amount for the flag and the three prints was $900. This means that we are beyond the halfway point for our goal.

One of the ticket options for the banquet was a Table Package. This package was $800 for a table of 8 people (so $100 each) and someone at the table was guaranteed to win a Yeti cooler. I was able to get in on a table that only had 7 people and kept someone from paying for two seats to get the package. To decide who got the cooler, every Table Package got an envelope with 8 different turkey related pictures in it.

Everyone at the table picked a picture. I let everyone else at the table pick their picture and took the last one. Then a bucket with the same 8 pictures was used to select the winning picture. Wouldn’t you know that my picture was the winner! I’d like to think it was more than luck that lead me to winning that cooler.