Genesee Valley Rotary Camp Grant
Reprinted from 2009 Traditions: Qtr. 1
At the Genesee Valley Rotary Camp, campers' faces beam with enthusiasm as they shoot a rifle for the first time. You can find most campers filling every free period they have participating in the camp's range program and proudly showing off their targets to all around.
GVRC isn't your ordinary summer camp. Every year, for one week, GVRC rents a local Boy Scout camp facility in Pike, NY and provides a full camping experience, free of charge, for up to a hundred youths with various handicapped conditions. The camp is unique in that it is one of the few in the nation that offers a riflery program for disabled youths.
All campers ages 12 and up, work one-on-one with camp counselors to learn gun safety, proper gun handling and shooting skills. Modifications are made to accommodate wheelchairs or any other physical barrier, so that all campers who wish to participate in the program are given the opportunity to do so, regardless of their disability. And most campers do choose to participate. In fact, for some, it is the highlight of their year.
Until recently though, the riflery program needed upgrading. GVRC wanted to purchase newer rifles to replace the older, more well-used ones. With the help and generosity of the Letchworth Region Friends of NRA and the NRA State Fund Committee of New York, the camp was able to do just that.
But before grants and before banquets, camp volunteer Janet Green and her husband, Howard, had decided to attend a local Friends of NRA informational meeting for the Letchworth Region. It was there the Greens learned that half the funds raised at each Friends of NRA event went back into state programs; at that point, finding funds to purchase new rifles seemed within reach.
Both proud members of the NRA and GVRC camp volunteers for over 18 years, the Greens were excited about the prospect of a new committee and were interested in how it could help improve their community and the camp. By the end of the meeting, Janet Green found herself co-chairing the newly formed committee and helping plan the first ever Letchworth Region Friends of NRA banquet.
With the help of other hard-working committee members and volunteers, the first Letchworth Region Friends of NRA banquet raised over $12k for the NRA Foundation. Later, Janet and Howard Green’s wish was granted. The NRA Foundation’s New York State Fund Committee allocated $1,380 in grant money for GVRC to purchase eight .22cal single shot rifles for the camp’s program.
Janet says GVRC campers couldn’t be happier about the riflery program. As for her husband Howard, who oversees all GVRC riflery program activities and is also an NRA Certified Rifle Instructor and Range Safety Officer, Janet said, “it too is the highlight of his year to see the smiles he gets when a youngster gets his or her first opportunity to shoot, and seeing their excitement the first time they hit the target or pop a balloon.”
The Letchworth Region Friends of NRA is currently planning their next banquet and preparing grant applications requesting funds to send youths to conservation camp and to help outfit a newly-formed junior trap shooting league at one of the four local Sportsmen's Clubs.
“Being part of the Friends of NRA committee,” said Janet Green, “allows us to feel the satisfaction of fostering youth shooting in ways that we would never be able to on our own.”
Attend an upcoming Letchworth Region Friends of NRA banquet! Contact NRA Senior Field Representative Jay Rusnock at (845) 298-7233 or via email at jrusnock@nrahq.org for more information.
A. Niblock Shorter