Shooting Hunger Draws Over 200

HUNTINGDON (June 19) — Shooting Hunger hosted its annual West Tennessee event, a Sporting Clays Fun Shoot, Friday at the Carroll County Shooting Sports Park. The event drew over 200 participants.

Friday’s event was the second leg of a three-stage annual campaign. East Tennessee’s event was earlier this month in Kodak, and Middle Tennessee’s event is in Nashville in September.

When the smoke clears from the last shotgun blast, funds from the three events will be combined and distributed equally among the state’s 95 counties. Local representatives of Shooting Hunger sponsors will then work with civic organizations and churches to distribute food, primarily through backpacks at schools. Backpacks will be distributed on Fridays and will contain food for a Friday dinner and three meals each on Saturday and Sunday.

Now in its twelfth year (tenth in Carroll County), Shooting Hunger has provided over three million meals to hungry Tennesseans. Last year, efforts yielded $285,000.

The annual event is made possible through a partnership between Tennessee Farm Bureau, Tennessee Farmers Cooperative, Farm Credit Mid-America and Rural 1st.

Five-person teams competed at multiple stations along the course. Prizes were awarded to the top three teams and the top individual shooter in each flight (morning and afternoon). The top youth shooter in each flight was awarded a $500 scholarship by Farm Credit Mid-America and Rural 1st.

Case Knives sold commemorative knives, including a one-of-a-kind piece which was auctioned, to contribute to the funds raised.

Other major sponsors included Tosh Farms (a founding sponsor), Tyson Foods (who provided lunch), Enterprise, Coleman Tractor Co., H&R Agri-Power, United Co-Op, GreenPoint AG, Tennessee Pork Producers Association, Helena and Nutra Blend.

Bryan Wright, executive vice president of Tennessee Farm Bureau, told The Banner, “The reason that these events are important, it casts the industry of agriculture in a positive light, because at the end of the day, our job is to feed hungry folks, and that’s what we do.

"But the big thing is, we’re here to feed hungry kids, and if we get a little bit of credit for that, that’s great, but if we don’t, we’ve still done something good for our fellow man. And at the end of the day, it doesn’t get any more basic than hunger. A friend of mine says if you have a lot of problems in life, but you’re hungry, you’ve only got one problem. You need something to eat.

"We just believe it’s the right thing to do, because kids can’t learn if they’re hungry. So that’s what we’re here for. We’re doing this all across the state, we’re going to finish up the year strong, and we’re going to feed a bunch of hungry kids because of it.”

Jody Wade, senior financial officer for Farm Credit Mid-America, told The Banner, "I've been a part of Shooting Hunger since we began here in Carroll County ten years ago. It doesn't seem like it's been ten years since we started this benefit. It's been a really successful event, being able to help feed hungry Tennesseans.

"It's actually something that became pretty personal for me. Obviously, I work in the field of agriculture, so we're helping farmers to feed the world. This is kind of narrowly focused on Tennessee.

"I got into the sport of sporting clays because of one of these events. It became a lot of fun and something I do most every single weekend. So, it's a really good event where the people of Ag come together for a common goal: feed hungry Tennesseans."