LENEXA, Kan. — More than 60 Kansas City area youths reeled in catfish and blasted clay pigeons—many for the first time—on Sunday, Sept. 15, during the Union Sportsmen’s Alliance (USA) 3rd Annual Boilermakers Get Youth Outdoors Day at Powder Creek Shooting Park in Lenexa, Kansas.
A cooperative effort between the USA and the International Brotherhood of Boilermakers, this free community event greeted around 130 community members, with more attendance this year than the last two years’ events combined, said USA Conservation Coordinator Cody Campbell.
“We had so many kids fishing or shooting for the first time,” Campbell said. “I’d say more than half of the attendees caught their first fish that day. And you could tell that some of them got that itch. They didn’t want to stop. They just caught catfish all day.”
Volunteers from Roofers Local 20 helped bait hooks and release fish back into the pond, while volunteers from UA Plumbers & Pipefitters Local 562 and Gateway Clay Busters provided participants with firearms safety instruction and assistance at the shooting line.
“I had one little girl about seven years old who was crying after she shot one of the shotguns,” said Tim Steffan, a member of UA Local 562 and a coach with the Gateway Clay Busters. “I told her it was okay and asked if she wanted to shoot again. She said, ‘Yeah.’ I had another kid who hit two birds in a row, and you’d think that he won the Super Bowl.”
This was the second year in a row that Steffan volunteered to help at the event. He brought two kids from the shooting team, his wife, and his good friend, Sgt. Gary Bradshaw from the St. Charles County Sheriff’s Department. “He’s the shooting coach for the deputies at their range and knew the answer to every question those kids asked. It’s second nature to him to help people learn to shoot.”
Steffan said most of the kids had never held a shotgun before. He and the volunteer team discussed firearm safety with the parents and the kids before shooting. “I told the parents I think it’s a great sport because shooting sports is something you can do your entire life,” Steffan said. “You can’t always play football, but you can shoot.”
All supplies, including eye and hearing protection, firearms, and ammunition, were provided at no charge, and each child received a fishing rod and reel to keep. Youths and their families also enjoyed a free lunch.
Steve Gercone is a member of Roofers Local 20. He volunteered last year and was happy to help again this year. He and a friend from Local 20 were at the fishing station, constantly baiting hooks, helping unhook fish and snags, and watching the smiles. “I’m an outdoorsman, and roofers always support USA 100 percent,” Gercone said. “It was pretty amazing to see those kids catch their first fish. It was a beautiful day. It warmed up in the afternoon, and nobody fell in the water. It was a good day.”
Get Youth Outdoors Day was part of a series of free, community-based youth outreach activities organized under Work Boots on the Ground—the USA’s flagship conservation program supported by national and founding partners Provost Umphrey Law Firm, Humana, Union Plus, Bank of Labor, UIG, ULLICO, AFL-CIO Investment Trust Corporation and Buck Knives.
Union Sportsmen’s Alliance (USA): The USA is a union-dedicated, 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization whose members hunt, fish, shoot and volunteer their skills for conservation. The USA is uniting the union community through conservation to preserve North America’s outdoor heritage. For more information, visit unionsportsmen.org or connect on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
Work Boots on the Ground (WBG): WBG is the USA’s flagship conservation program that brings together union members willing to volunteer their time and expertise to conservation projects that improve and enhance public access to the outdoors, conserve wildlife habitat, restore America’s parks and mentor youth in the outdoors. The USA’s Work Boots on the Ground program works closely with federal, state and local agencies and other conservation groups to provide manpower needed to complete critical projects that may otherwise go undone.
Read the full article here
