Thanksgiving is just behind us and the Christmas holiday season is nigh. The weather has started turning colder and the hint of winter is in the air. I hope and pray everyone has a great Christmas and is prepared for this upcoming winter. This time of the year for me is a time to reflect and be thankful for the many blessings, family and friends I have in my life, blessings too many to count, friends and family too few. I look back at the friends we lost this past year and remember fond memories of them. I also look forward to the upcoming New Year and anticipate what in holds in store.
This is a busy time of the year for the chapter and me. While taking a few days for myself to visit the deer woods (no luck there) and the office closing for the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays make for a short two months. The auditors are in the office conducting our annual audit as soon as that is over we will sending out our Annual Report. I will give you a quick overview of the overall year, we were able to achieve our goals while staying within our budget. That in its self is a feat giving the economic times we faced.
I hope many of our readers, especially those in and around the Oklahoma City area, have noticed the clothing donation drop boxes placed around. This is a new fundraising effort between National PVA and the chapter. We are really looking forward to this effort to add some much needed funds to our bank account. If you have any clothing items you need to donate, look for our white donation boxes in a parking lot near you.
The last weekend of October I was once again fortunate to attend “The Great Deer Hunt of 2011” in Miami, OK, not as a hunter but as a guest. Since 2008 the generous folks of Miami and surrounding areas have hosted a spring turkey hunt and a fall deer hunt for four of our members. We select different members each year to attend. From the beginning our hosts have treated our members as kings and this year was no exception, but I will leave that part of the story to the hunters to share. This year’s hunt was dedicated to Robert Lesage who hunted there last year. Robert had made many new friends while he was there and they too felt the same. Robert wanted to return to Miami just to visit his new friends, unfortunately Robert was one of the friends we lost this past year. Upon hearing of his passing our friends in Miami wanted to do something special in his memory so they dedicated the 2011 hunt in his name. We have produced a booklet highlighting the hunt and activities plus our good friend Keith Hays from the “Keith and Cody the Future of Fishing” TV show was there and filmed much of the hunt and activities. If you would like a copy of the booklet and DVD please contact the chapter office we will get one to you.
I look forward to seeing many of you at our Sweetheart Banquet February 4, 2012, please make plans to attend.