Turkey Bluffs Chapter hosts JAKES day event
</element><element id="paragraph-1" type="body"><![CDATA[The Turkey Bluffs Chapter of the National Wild Turkey Federation (NWTF) held their 12th Annual JAKES Day on Saturday, August 2nd at the Randolph County State Conservation Area, Chester. A total of 186 youth attended the event and approximately 100 parents. A great turnout! This year's activities included: Gun Safety/Handling, Shotgun Patterning, Clay Bird shooting, Archery shooting at bullseye/3D targets and Air Rifle shooting at bullseye/Daisy Chalk targets. At registration, each youth received a custom-designed JAKES T-shirt and was entered in a drawing for a variety of prizes. As in the past, the registration fee was paid by the NWTF Illinois State Chapter.
As last year, the Turkey Bluffs Chapter collected canned good items for a local county food pantry. Each youth was given a ticket per item for a shotgun drawing. Some that forgot to bring their items asked if they could give a monetary donation. A total of 1149 canned items and $58 cash was collected and donated to the St. John Lutheran's and Christian Food Pantries in Chester. A very "special thanks" to those that contributed.
The chapter's appreciation goes out to committee members that helped make the 12th Annual JAKES Day a success. The TBC acknowledges all the parents for taking time out of their busy schedules to bring their son/daughter to JAKES Day. We hope that the youth enjoyed the day filled with hands-on outdoor fun activities, learning about wildlife conservation and the wild turkey. The TBC also acknowledges Joan Bade, RCCA Site Superintendent and her staff for their great efforts in maintaining the group area. Also Menard Warden, Don Hulich and staff for setting up tents to shelter the youth and adults from the sweltering heat.
A special recognition and gratitude to the event sponsors: Steeleville Pharmacy-Steeleville, North County Savings Bank-Red Bud, First State Bank-Red Bud, DeRousse Heating & Cooling-Red Bud, Red Bud Industries-Red Bud, Steeleville Banking Center-Steeleville, Hanebutt Builder's, Inc.-Red Bud, Buena Vista National Bank-Chester, Schenk's Market-Evansville, Frame Works-Prairie du Rocher, First Bank-Red Bud, Buchheits-Sparta, Biethman Refrigeration-Prairie du Rocher, Walker Country Insurance-Red Bud, Pizza Hut-Red Bud, Chester National Bank-Chester, Farm Credit Services-Red Bud, Ellner's Welding-Prairie du Rocher, Zanders Sporting Goods-Baldwin, Red Bud IGA-Red Bud, Rozier's Country Market-Chester, Dave's Food Center-Steeleville, Frito Lay-Red Bud, Gilster Mary Lee-Chester, and Ameren UE. This is a very special group of contributors who helped make JAKES Day 2008 a success.