September 2016 President’s Message – Carl Gierke:
Let me start out by saying a big THANK YOU to everyone who has contributed over the years to making Challenge the Outdoors such a wonderful organization. It takes many dedicated people to make our events happen and we should all be proud of the accomplishments of those who have worked so hard to get us where we are today.
Several years ago, I learned about Challenge the Outdoors by shooting at the annual fundraiser and soon became a member because it seemed to be a great opportunity to spend some time outdoors. I’ve been hunting and fishing since I was a kid, but was past the stage where I needed to bring home some fish or game to call it a successful trip. Helping someone else hunt or fish seemed like it might be fun.
Well, I was right - CTO has been a lot of fun. But I think the best part is that it’s given me the chance to meet a lot of wonderful people. CTO members and others that support our organization are incredibly giving, helpful people that focus on our abilities, not on our disabilities. That positive spirit is a powerful force that drives this group!
To continue this tradition and keep CTO thriving, we need YOU to help spread the word about who we are and what we do. You can do this by not only attending and helping at our events, but also by talking to individuals, businesses, and organizations about the many recreational opportunities we provide. We can make CTO more visible by having booths at outdoor and business shows. We can also partner with other outdoor and sporting groups, as well as organizations that support or employ individuals with disabilities. Carry some CTO pamphlets with you and pass them along to anyone that might be interested. If you see opportunities to promote CTO and are unable to follow up on them yourself, talk with one of our directors or event coordinators and we’ll try to make those contacts for you.
Check the calendar in this newsletter for upcoming events and if you can attend or help in any way, please contact the event coordinator. CTO has a lot going on this fall, so we hope to see you soon.
Youth and Lady Day: J&H will be celebrating our Annual Youth & Lady Day of Outdoor Instruction on Saturday, September 10th, Registration will be from 9AM – 3PM and activities will run until 4PM. This is a free event for all ladies and all kids up to age 18. Activities will include shotgun, 22 and BB gun shooting stations, archery, fly casting, and the trout fishing will again be sponsored by Challenge the Outdoors. There will be displays by the DNR, Al Meier’s Taxidermy and the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation Ladies Group. Food is also furnished along with a door prize for each participant. For more information about the activities or if you wish to make any donations, please contact Diane at J&H at 715-758-8134 or e-mail me at jhclub@tds.net Attn. CTO members: CTO is always looking for helpers at the Trout Pond. If you would like to help the youth and ladies catch the fish or join those who clean the trout after they are caught please call CTO at 920-593-6300 and leave a message—someone will call you back with details.
End of Summer Outing at Outagamie Conservation Club, Saturday, September 17th 2016 – Jim Adamovich:
CTO has had three end of summer get together in the past years and each has been a nice outing for our members. This year’s location is going to be at the Outagamie Conservation Club located north of Appleton on Mayflower Road starting at 10 A.M. We’ll be working with the fine folks at OOC to set-up great opportunities for everyone to enjoy, including; trap shooting, archery, pistol shooting (bring your own ammunition) and fishing for starters CTO will provide some bait or bring your own favorite. It is caught and release they have stocked the pond in the past. You are welcome to bring your own shells or OCC has 12 and 20 gauge for $7.00 a box. CTO will pick-up the cost of 1-box of shell purchased at OCC. We will have a meal with the main dish provided by CTO. Please bring a dish to pass. Lunch will be around 12 to 1. There is an open bar so you can purchase your beverages. We really hope that our members who have wanted to try some of these activities in the past will now have a real opportunity to do so without feeling rushed. The ground at OOC are very wheelchair friendly and there is ample parking and a very nice Club House area that will serve our needs very well. So mark your calendar September 17th. The address is N3502 Mayflower Dr. Hortonville. Hope to see you there! To sign up call Rita @920-722-2090 or Karen @ 920-766-9218
Or e-mail at jimrita0208@yahoo.com. Map directions: From south or west, take Hwy 15 to Mayflower Road (approximately 1.5 miles west of Hwy 41 and 2 Miles east of Greenville) to Mayflower Road, go north on Mayflower Road approximately 5.5 miles to the entrance on the right hand side. From the North or East, take Hwy 47 south approximately 7 miles south of Black Creek and 1.5 miles north of Wege Road, go west on Wege Road Approximately 4 miles to Mayflower Road, turn (North) and go approximately ¾ of a mile to the entrance on the right hand side.
Address: Outagamie Conservation Club, N3502 Mayflower Rd. Hortonville, WI 54944. Phone: (920) 739-9211
CTO Annual “Shoot till You Drop” – Jim Adamovich: This event is scheduled for Tuesday, September 20th, 2016, 8:00 am to 4:00 pm at J&H Game Farm, W5810 J & H Road, Shiocton, WI 54170.
Come join us for our annual fall Shoot till You Drop. CTO picks up the cost of the clay birds and the ammunition for this daylong event. Volunteers that help the disabled shooters will be able to also shoot as much as they want. You can choose from the traditional sporting clay course, wobble flurry, skeet, and 5-stand events. Pre-sign up is encouraged, but I want to remind everyone that it is your responsibility to sign in at the shoot as well for each round and type of shoot you do. Please bring a dish to pass.
Please put this on your calendar. Don’t forget to sign up by September 18th, 2016 you can E-Mailing Jim Adamovich at jimrita0208@yahoo.com or call at 920-722-2090. Or if you have any question. Hope to see you there.
October Disabled Deer Hunt October 1-9—Pat Nieuwenhuis: We will be having a Pre-Hunt meeting again this year similar to the past couple years. The meeting will be on Saturday Oct.1, 2016 at 10:00 am. This is the first day of the hunt. Lunch will be served and we will get you out for the afternoon/evening hunt. This year’s hunt will once again be headquartered at the Lessor Town Hall in Landstad. To reach the Town Hall from the South, take Hwy 47 out of Black Creek for about 13 miles until you reach Landstad Rd (Ye Old Plow Shop) and turn right or to the east. If coming from the North, take Hwy 47 and head South about 5 miles to Landstad Rd and turn left. The Town Hall is less than a quarter mile and will be on the right side of the road. Volunteers are also always welcomed and needed to assist with the actual hunt. We have had great helpers in the past. Remember we can’t pull this off without you. Please call Pat Nieuwenhuis at 920-687-8707 if you can help. If you are willing to help, we’ll sure try to find something for you to do.
Fall PHEASANT HUNT- Jim Adamovich: This last scheduled event which has become very popular will be at J & H Game Farm, W5810 J & H Road, Shiocton, WI 54170, Sunday October 23th, 2016, from 8:00 AM-? We have been coordinating birds in the field, dogs and handlers, machine operator, back-up shooters, cleaners and bagged, great food and just a great day to get to know other CTO members and listening to the stories. Each disabled hunter will be allowed two pheasant. If you have a favorite recipe and would like to share bring along. If you don’t have your own gun, there will be guns available at J & H Game Farm for you to use. Shells have been donated by John Kempen for either a 12 gauge and 20 gauge. Each hunter is welcome to bring family members, or a friend to assist them, but only the disabled CTO members are allowed to shoot. Food will be made by J&H game Farm which is always delicious.
Don’t forget to sign up by October 19th, 2015 if you are going to be part of this hunt
Contact information is: Jim Adamovich E-mail: jimrita0208@yahoo.com or 920-722-2090.
List of Meetings—First Tuesday of the Month: Please note that if you plan on attending a meeting, please let us know in advance in case of any changes. 920-593-6300
GOOD WILL
907 S. GREEN BAY ROAD
NEENAH, WI 54956
OCTOBER 4- 6:00 P.M.
NOVEMBER 1- 6:00 P.M.
DECEMBER 6- 6:00 P.M.
JANUARY 3, 2017- 6:00 P.M.
MUEHL LIBRARY
436 N. MAIN STREET
SEYMOUR, WI 54165
FEBRUARY 7, 2017 -6:00 P.M.
MARCH 7, 2017 -6:00 P.M.
APRIL 4, 2017 -6:00 P.M.
MAY 2, 2017 -6:00 P.M.
CTO MEMBERSHIP & AWARDS Banquet Recap: We would like to thank everyone who attended the 14th Annual Banquet & Membership at Romy’s of Black Creek on July 30th 2016. We had a great turn out of 163 members and guests for the awards, food, raffles, 50/50 and just visiting. The many donors of the raffle prizes are: Gerald Schick, Delberta Pathke, Bob Schuh, Jerry Krejcha, Rene/Lois Grode and Jacob Meat Market in Appleton. Harland Chapman sang “One Day at a Time” for the opening. We thank Carl Gierke for being the MC for the evening. Pete Lathrop presented the awards for the events throughout the year and also the scholarship. We appreciated the donation presented by Gary VandenHuevel from Whitetails Unlimited and Sharon Reynolds from Catholic Financial Life. Special thanks to anyone who helped in anyway. It is very much appreciated by the committee, Rita Adamovich and Karen Baehr. At the membership meeting, the following directors were added:
Tom Namore Bob Schrubing
Judy Paluch Pat Nieuwenhuis
Keith Pamprin Tammy Kritz
Night at the Races – Jim Adamovich: August 18th was a great night at the races. We enjoyed a night of action. All who attended said they had a great time and enjoyed being in the outdoors. The weather was hot at first but as the sun went down it was quite enjoyable. We had seventeen members that attended. Hope to see more next year.
Highlights of the Board of Directors Meetings - Judy Paluch:
JULY 2016 Meeting: Unfortunately, we did not have a quorum so we could not vote on anything.
Our membership application has been changed to allow more information for the membership committee and for the members. This application will be on our website to download and in each newsletter. Please read the important information, fill it out completely, sign it, and date it; this will be also for renewals of memberships. Send the money to the address on the application as we always have. We would like to have the wife’s or life partner’s name on the membership list too, so please put both of the first names on the first line. If you can’t get a form to fill out to renew or join our disabled organization, please call our office at “920-593-6300”, and we will send you a form. Make sure to leave your name (spell it) and the address on the message on the machine when you call. If you have any questions, please call our office at the above phone number.
Our Board of Director meetings will be in Green Bay on September 6th at Options for Independent Living, and then for the next four months we will have our meetings in Neenah at the Good Will Store on S. Green Bay Road. All our meetings are usually at 6:00 PM. The dates for Neenah meetings are October 4, November 1, December 6, and January 3. If anyone plans on attending, please call before you come (at least a week) on our office phone at 920-593-6300 to make sure we didn’t have to cancel or move our meeting.
The Lake Michigan Fishing Event was discussed, but there was not any information shared at the meeting. We hope to hear about the catch and who won the prize at our next meeting.
AUGUST 2016 Meeting: We had the election of officers. Carl Gierke was elected President, Jim Adamovich was elected Vice President, Judy Paluch was elected Secretary, and the Treasurer’s position was left open.
There is a sign that we had one of our members make to put on the side of the building at J&H Game Farm Advertising Challenge the Outdoors, Inc. This will show other disabled people who we are and how our organization can help them.
We had a wonderful banquet and the food was delicious. We had the most people that we ever had for a banquet. We are thinking about having our own bartender in our room for the next banquet. This will make it easier to get a drink or soda. Thanks to all those who made it possible to have such a nice dinner and awards banquet, and thank you to all our members and guests that attended.
Saturday, August 6th our members went to the Timber Rattler Game, and it was a great night. Unfortunately, the Timber Rattlers lost. The first part of the game was exciting, and then they had a few problems. That doesn’t matter because all of us had a good time. We had great seats, a great meal, and fireworks after the game. Thanks to Peter Lathrop and Carl Gierke who were in charge of the event. They picked a great day and made our event a wonderful time for all.
Membership Awards Program –Peter Lathrop:
Below are the CTO Award Winners from July 1, 2015 to June 30, 2016. These awards were given out at the membership banquet on July 30, 2016. Some of the categories below have 2 winners because we separated On Your Own and During a CTO Event. Please remember to submit your entries for the 2016-2017 season. The categories and rules are the same as what is printed in the May 2016 newsletter except Rock Bass will be added. Also, date of your hunting, fishing, shooting, Deep Doo-Doo, or Biggest Challenge Overcome activity must be included when you submit your entry; and entries must be submitted by June 30th (You may be given a little longer under special circumstances). Submit your entries to Awards Administrator, Peter Lathrop at plcaravan@yahoo.com or (920) 982-4288. If you cannot find your May 2016 newsletter, it is on our website www.ctoforme.org/news.htm
Check calendar @ www.ctoforme.org for other dates click on the date for more information about these events in the newsletter.
Contact Phone Numbers:
Jim and Rita Adamovich 920-722-2090
Judy Paluch 920-336-1934
Karen Baehr 920-766-9218
Pat Nieuwenhuis 920-687-8707
Carl Gierke 920-986-3272