Friends of the NRA hosts 5th annual fundraising banquet in Lincoln

The Friends of the NRA held their fifth annual banquet in Lincoln at the historic Lincoln Community Hall Sept. 19, with roughly 150 people attending the sold out event.

The group held their first banquet in Lincoln in 2015 and in its early days, they raised approximately $13,000. Since then it has been steadily growing in both attendance and the amount of money raised each year.

Committee chairs Jan and Wendell Weaver have been involved in the NRA for several years. What began as a way to attend events and win things turned into a passion for them.

"It was really cool to win items, but once I started paying attention to what the NRA was all about, it became very important for Jan and I to do our part," Wendell Weaver said. He added that it's nice to see the crowd growing all the time and believes if they had a bigger venue, more people would come.

The NRA has various goal levels that events like this strive for when raising funds. Last year, this particular event reached the Hi Caliber level, meaning they were able to raise more than $25,000 in profit, which Weaver said is "quite a bit for a small community." The goal is always to raise as much money as possible and this year they were on track to raise about $28,000.

Money raised from these and other events goes towards various programming including gun safety, self-defense classes for women, hunter's education classes and gun range improvements.

Weaver said half the money is pooled within the state of Montana for local programming, and the other half is pooled with all the other "halves" from statewide events and put into national programming that's distributed through grant awards. Weaver really likes the idea that the money they help raise goes back into programming for people they deal with every day.

Leading up to the local event, the Lincoln Chapter also raises money through drawings hosted at local businesses. This year they held those drawings in Lincoln at the Wilderness Bar and the Wheel Inn, and in Helmville at the Copper Queen. In addition, they raise money through their Wall of Guns raffle which Wendell runs during the 4th of July Parade.

The Weavers said they greatly appreciate the support of the local community businesses and individuals, the Lincoln Sportsman Club, and their event sponsors, as well as committee members Barb & Rich Debick, Justin McDonough, and Chad Sutej, and their volunteers Matt Gates, Tom Joseph, Ethel Sutej and Charlie Sutej.

If you would like more information about the event, or how to get more involved, please contact Jan or Wendell at 406-793-5808.