By Paul Erhardt
USA – -(Ammoland.com)- Getting a shooting team up and running can take a bite out one’s wallet. But the cost isn’t much different than what families with competitive football, baseball or soccer players face.
They all have equipment costs, training fees and, of course, travel expenses. Fortunately for those competing in the shooting sports there is help.
Through the MidwayUSA Foundation, which was started by MidwayUSA owners Larry and Brenda Potterfield, several teams have built up small war chests to fund their shooting. In fact, you’d be surprised how much some have raised.
To make it into the top ten teams based on the amount raised you’d have to start at the $400,000 mark. The top five all have over a half million in the bank. And most amazing of all is the amount the Massachusetts Shooters Foundation Junior Programs has raised. Their account is in excess of $1.2 million.
Larry Gay, who coaches the Oskaloosa Shooting Team from a small faming community in Iowa, has 43 kids on his team with 20 of them competing in the 2015 National Team Championships in Sparta, Illinois.
He also has over $515,000 in his endowment fund.
It took the team only about a year to raise $480,000 and now the size of the team’s fund allows them to draw as much as $25,000 annually to help cover travel expenses, which has been crucial to their ability to compete at competitions like the Nationals and the upcoming International Trap Nationals in Colorado Springs.
In addition to their draw the team raises another $15,000 to $20,000 each year thanks to the strong support of their community where several business and individuals step forward to assist the team. But it’s the endowment structure that has been the key to maintaining the team.
“The MidwayUSA Foundation’s endowment program is extremely important to us because travel is ungodly expensive,” explained Coach Gay whose team competes two to three times a month during the season.
“Our endowment helps underwrite those costs so parents don’t have to carry the full burden of sending the team to Nationals or Colorado.”
To find out more about the MidwayUSA Foundation’s programs visit www.midwayusafoundation.org.
