HOOAH 2023 Kickoff Event Saturday, Feb. 18th in Bloomington

This Saturday, Feb. 18th, the HOOAH Deer Hunt For Heroes organization will hold their 2023 kickoff at the Bloomington, IL VFW (1006 E. Lincoln, Bloomington).  The organization helps veterans with service-related disabilities in so many ways, including providing them a network of friends and a sense of purpose.

Guns Save Life has sponsored the HOOAH organization and its mission since its early days, and our members have helped with time, treasure and sweat equity for the very worthy organization.

Come out this Saturday from 4pm – 7:30pm. 

From Facebook:

We will be raffling off a Glock model 43X 9mm, two wooden flags, and a Damascus knife. Will draw winner at VFW on 02/18
We will unveil the Golf Cart for the 2023 raffle
Raffle tickets will be on sale for our $10,000 travel voucher, Golf Cart and Beef Raffle winner for these raffles will be drawn on 09/03 Hickory Hill Campgrounds, you do not need to be present to win
A to Z Catering will be selling food at this event
Entertainment by Mikey Horn Music

Among the items that will be raffled off…

We will be raffling of this Glock model 43 9mm Battle Worn Flag at the VFW on 02/18. Tickets for sale at the start of our event on 02/18 and winner will be drawn that night.

About HOOAH:

Guns Save Life and its members have supported, indeed embraced the HOOAH Deer Hunt For Heroes non-profit organization.  HOOAH takes American veterans with service-related disabilities out on all expense paid events to help them network with fellow veterans.  The events help the veterans reintegrate back into the civilian world and to give them a sense of purpose.

HOOAH sponsors all manner of outdoor adventures including hunting, fishing and so much more. The real magic happens over meals and at the campfire in the evenings.

Here’s a story the Pantagraph ran, and in fact, is the story that helped Guns Save Life and HOOAH form our relationship.  

FUNKS GROVE — William White loaded an arrow into his gas-powered crossbow, took aim and pressed the trigger.

The deer fell. It was White’s first in three years of coming up empty.

Never mind that White is missing an arm and a leg. The U.S. Marine sergeant, a veteran of Beirut, Bosnia and Somalia, thanked a small band of soldiers and civilian volunteers who restored him to wholeness, if only for a day.

“It’s always good to find a friend when you need one,” said White, of Wood Dale, as he recognized the HOOAH Deer Hunt for Heroes program.

HOOAH is a local offshoot of the U.S. Army’s “Healing Outside Of A Hospital” program. Four Army specialists spent last week working with local founder Tom Huffington of McLean to set up a week of hunting for eight injured warriors at Funks Grove.

“We work with the Army to screen candidates for the program so that we can do the most good,” Huffington said.

Physical and psychological assessments, as well as material accommodations for what each candidate needs to succeed, are all factors that contribute to their inclusion, he said. Each wounded soldier is assigned a mentor and support staff to guide them on the hunting expedition.

Huffington said fundraisers, like LeRoy High School’s Hangar Dance, have enabled HOOAH to purchase hunting supplies and other items that provide mobility for the soldiers, many without use of their arms or legs.

More than 1,700 soldiers have been through the program since it was set up at Fort Campbell, Ky…

Guns Save Life members donated not only a bunch of money towards HOOAH and their mission, but we gave them priceless publicity which helped them grow.  What’s more, the GSL members have donated their time as volunteers for HOOAH as well.  In fact, a couple of years ago, GSL received a “Foundational Award.”  They say without Guns Save Life, at best the group wouldn’t be nearly as successful as it has become, but it might not even exist at all.

And given that the organization now helps not only hundreds of veterans each year, but it also has events that welcome their caregivers and spouses as well, the time, treasure and sweat our Guns Save Life family has invested in HOOAH has helped save lives and make the world a better place..