News : JAKES Day event brings 30 children to Izaak Walton

JAKES Day brings area children together for a day of fun and education

The temperature was into the mid-90's and heat indexes over 100 degrees but that did not hamper JAKES Day sponsored by the Blue Creek Springtime Monarchs, Benton County's chapter of the National Wild Turkey Foundation (NWTF). 30 kids ages 4 - 15 attended along with an additional 25 parents, volunteers, and chapter members.

After registration and a safety discussion, everyone had the opportunity to participate in four stations: trap shooting, target shooting on the rifle range with .22s, archery, and a nature walk and session on monarch butterflies by Cam and Logan with Benton County Conservation. After each station, the groups were sent back to the Ike's building to drink water and cool down before moving on to the next.

As the activities wrapped up for the day, we discovered that 7 kids shot a rifle or shotgun for the very first time and 7-8 kids shot a bow for the first time. All in a safe environment with experienced instructors close by. Our chapter members are always excited to be part of these learning experiences!

Our chapter would like to thank the Izaak Walton League for allowing us use of their facilities, Fareway for helping with the food, all our sponsors from our golf tournament and annual banquet, and everyone who volunteered and helped with this event to make it a special day.