Mitch Calvert
A sold-out crowd flocked to La Place Rendez-Vous on Friday evening for the local Ducks Unlimited 26th-annual banquet to support wetland conservation.
Gross totals raised from the event was in excess of $30,000, but DU treasurer Pam Munn said the net donation to DU should come in right around the average $25,000 mark for yet another year.
Last year’s banquet raised $25,500.
“It seems to be pretty consistent from year to year,” agreed local DU chapter chairman Rick Hallam.
“The success of the Fort Frances event is due not only the work of the men involved [with the committee], but also of the women who are involved, as well,” Hallam said.
“They are an integral part of making this fly,” he stressed.
Money raised came entirely through ticket sales and a variety of raffles, silent and live auctions, with prizes supplied by DU, while a significant number of local artists also chipped in by donating prints, carvings, and wood-workings.
Local businesses also supplied prizes, with Lea Rempel going home a big winner with a new 42-inch plasma TV from Howarth’s Home Centre.
“We are completely volunteer-driven, from the committee that has worked hard to put on the event [Friday] evening, all the way to our president and board of directors,” national DU rep Andy Laidley enthused.
“There are not a lot of organizations that are like that.”
A large percentage of the more than 200 guests on hand Friday night were young adults—a fact that both surprised and impressed local DU committee member Morris Pawloski, who recently moved to the area from Winnipeg.
“I’m just amazed at the amount of young people,” Pawloski said during the dinner. “I’ve been with Ducks Unlimited for a long time, and it’s usually just us gray beards at these things.
“It’s a good sign because without the young people, we’re gone,” he stressed.
Hallam, who is giving way to incoming chairman Kevin Begin for next year’s event, plans to stay involved with DU for the foreseeable future.
“It’s a hard-working committee that is dedicated to the cause, but we’re always looking for people to join the Ducks Unlimited committee here,” Hallam noted.
“It’s not really a big commitment because we don’t really start in earnest until January and then by May it’s all done.
“There’s several meetings to strategize and plan, and then there’s maybe a little bit of running around town to get some donations,” Hallam explained.
“There’s one big night the night before [the banquet], and then we have the banquet the next night and have fun.”
Hallam said DU isn’t just for duck-hunting enthusiasts, stressing both hunters and non-hunters have a common goal of preserving habitats for ducks and geese, and can channel that energy productively through DU.
“It’s amazing how many people belong to Ducks Unlimited who don’t hunt ducks or geese,” he lauded.
“I’ve personally never shot a duck or a goose in my life, and I never plan to do so, but it’s also amazing that the people who do hunt them are still actively involved in the preservation of their wetlands.”
To date, the local organizing committee has raised more than $600,000 for DU’s national conservation projects.
Also Friday night, the local DU committee honoured member Tammy Wielinga for her longtime support and dedication.
