Tuesday, December 26, 2006

 

I WISH FOR YOU...LET'S SEE.

We are awash in The Holidays.
I want to wish for you something nice, yet I feel most of the traditional expressions of good cheer have been amply covered in salutation, sermon and song.
So bear with me while I make up my own list,
This coming year, 2007, I wish for you the following:
Eyes that see more of the natural world. More fish. More game. More beauty.
As winter progresses, may you find time to see snow clouds scudding in from Bays Mountain.
Wood ducks in brilliant color on the Holston River.
The bright eyes of a fox peering at you from a sedge field in Hawkins County.
May a flock of wild turkeys – shimmering bronze and black in the winter sun – cross your path along the many river bottoms in the area.
And may a wandering bear from the high country of Virginia or North Carolina show himself just long enough to give you that tightness in the throat that only a bear can generate.
May your ears find a way to tune out the cacophony of noise from construction and interstate traffic. May your hearing be more attuned to the things our grandparents heard – the drumming of a grouse, the high-pitched cry of a red-tailed hawk circling in the sky, the scream of a bobcat in a mountain hollow just after dusk.
I wish for you in the coming year a certain awareness, an understanding, if you will, of that delicate balance of nature which promises that if you pave, build and "progress" past a certain point, something important is gone forever.
I hope you’ll comprehend that more people, more shopping malls and more pavement means that we – and our children – will be reduced to watching "nature" on TV.
I hope that you’ll be able to spend enough time outdoors this coming year – away from the artificial climate of buildings and cars -- to remember that winters are naturally cold, summers naturally hot, and that spring and fall do crazy things to the senses, such as making you glad you’re alive.

I wish for you a flight of Canada geese returning north in the spring sky.
An unexpected handful of raspberries in the summer sun.
And a pocketful of chinquapins next September.
May you enjoy limits of bass and grouse. Days camped in a forest with someone you love. The aroma of wood smoke by a fireplace when the guns and fishing gear have been stashed away.
This is the best and truest way I know to share a preview into the New Year.
And I confess.
When I wish these things for you, I am also reminded that these are the things I wish most for myself.
END

Friday, December 08, 2006

 

LET BAMBI HELP FEED THE HUNGRY

Let’s team up with Bambi this season to provide hungry people – many of them children -- a gift that will keep on giving.
Rather than exchange gifts this Christmas, members of my family are going to use the money to donate to our favorite charities. We’ve all got about as much "stuff" as we can use. By contrast, there are people truly in need this winter, and we – you too – can help.
One of my favorite non-profit charities is a group called Hunters for the Hungry. They’re based in Big Island, Va., near Natural Bridge. Here’s how they work.
Hunters for the Hungry takes deer meat donated by hunters, has it processed by professional meat processors, then distributes the delicious, fat-free, wholesome venison to the needy. Those who might not have meat on the table this Christmas and beyond include people who depend on food banks, churches, organizations and even individual families.
Since Hunters for the Hungry was formed in 1991, the demand for venison, plus the cost of getting the meat to those in need, has skyrocketed.
The first year, more than 33,000 pounds of deer meat was donated, processed and passed out. This year, Hunters for the Hungry will distribute a quarter of a million pounds of meat – but it won’t be easy.
Hunters for the Hungry, which depends totally on monetary gifts from
Individuals and organizations such as churches, Ruritan clubs, hunt clubs and other charitable groups, is facing a money crunch.
"The availability of finances is the limiting factor," said a spokesperson at Hunters for the Hungry. "The potential exists to distribute three or four times the venison we pass along each year."
"Hunters for the Hungry is really struggling this year," said Carson Quarles of Roanoke, former chairman of the board of the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries. "Last year, many donors sent money that normally would have gone to Hunters for the Hungry to New Orleans hurricane relief – a lot of which was wasted – so Hunters for the Hungry is having a tough time recovering from this. I feel that feeding our own children, elderly, poor and needy is the right thing to do."
Hunters are obviously being generous with their venison. The problem is that each deer costs about $30 to have a professional butcher process, cut, wrap, freeze and distribute to food kitchens and other places that feed those who might otherwise have no meat on the table.
Certain deer seasons remain open in Tennessee and Virginia – archery and muzzleloading, for example – plus deer will continue to come into Hunters for the Hungry from special damage permits and municipal management hunts for months to come.
Hunters for the Hungry will gladly take your deer, but their greatest need is money, money, money – donations, donations, donations – to take care of processing the meat and transporting it to the tables of the needy.
Remember: A $15 donation will process one-half a deer (about 25 pounds of venison), and a $30 donation will process a whole deer (about 50 pounds). If you can cough up several hundred dollars, you’ll feed a small army of hungry people.
You can sent your donations (or get additional information) by contacting Hunters for the Hungry, P.O. Box 304, Big Island, Va. 24526. The toll-free number is 1-800-352-4868. The e-mail is h4hungry@cs.com and the Web page is www.h4hungry.org
As Wilford Brimley says about eating oatmeal: "It’s the right thing to do."
END

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