Hunt of a Lifetime

The world of "political correctness" has impacted almost every facet of life. But, one place that this "political correctness" has really caused a significant impact is in the hunting community. Being a hunter, I know that there have been many different places where hunting in particular has been harmed. I can remember several years ago when I had a friend who was diagnosed with terminal cancer, and the Make a Wish Foundation stepped up and made it possible for him to go on a deer hunt. That type of "wish" is no longer covered by the Make a Wish Foundation. Evidently, cowering to political correctness, the Make a Wish Foundation has decided about 10 years ago to not grant any more hunting wishes.

Fortunately for young terminally ill children who want to make their own wishes, another organization has grown to fill in the hole left by Make a Wish. Hunt of a Lifetime is an organization that works specifically to grant hunting wishes to terminally ill people under the age of 21. Now, these young people have a place to go to be granted the greatest of wishes.

The story behind Hunt of a Lifetime is a touching one. Tina Pattison had a son who was diagnosed with Hodgkin's disease. His wish was to be able to go on a hunt in Canada for moose. When Tina contacted Make a Wish, they declined to help because of the problems that they had recently had surrounding two previous hunts that had been granted. Tina was not going to take no for an answer, and so she started working to get the wish granted elsewhere. She began to call sportsmen's organizations, looking for someone to help her. Finally, she received a phone call from an outfitter in Canada who was offering his help, providing the moose hunt for free. The rest of the town also pitched in to make sure the hunt would happen. A resort lodge provided accommodations. A helicopter charter company provided travel from the town to the hunting area. A drilling company paid for Matt's license fees. A cell phone was also donated. A grocery story donated all of the food for the remote camp. A feed store paid for the food for all of the pack animals and also offered to butcher a moose if Tina's son Matt was successful. A nurse took time off of work and stayed in camp to help if there were any medical emergencies. Another broker of hunting trips paid for Matt's tickets to fly to Canada. Basically everything that was necessary was donated so that this hunt could take place.

Matt was successful on his hunt, scoring on a trophy class bull moose. He returned to Pennsylvania, where the cancer spread quickly through his body, and he passed away in April of 1999 at age 19. This was only months after his hunt.

Tina was impressed with the way this hunt came to be through the donations of all involved. She was so moved, that she decided that she would start another organization that would grant wishes just like this to other terminally ill children. Before long, she had created Hunt of a Lifetime, and it was being supported by donations coming from all over the country.

Hunt of a Lifetime is reliant upon those who are willing to donate to their cause. Money is necessary to help get many of the staples needed for an organization such as this. Volunteers are also needed, people who could raise funds and provide services to those who participate in these hunts. Outfitters and travel companies make donations of their services. All of these are important for every aspect of the non-profit to function. Each of these sources has to fit together to bring these hunts to fruition.

The sad thing about this organization is that there will always be more kids in need than there will be donations to support the organization. I know that there are many people that do not understand the desire of these sick kids to hunt, but it is not theirs to understand. The attacks that came on Make a Wish foundation were completely uncalled for. How could animal rights activists choose this venue as a place to make a stand? We need more people who will support these kids, like the Hunt of a Lifetime Organization. If you have the ability, this is a worthy cause to support!

Sources:

http://www.huntofalifetime.org/cgi-bin/news/news.pl?record=9