Pass It On – Outdoor Mentors was awarded $10,000.00 in a grant from the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation Torstenson Family Endowment Hunting Heritage Grant Program. These funds will be used to expand the rapidly growing Shooting Sports Outreach Program to engage participants in high school and college shooting sports in hunting activities.
Based in Wichita, Kansas, Pass It On – Outdoor Mentors has been engaged in recruiting mentors for at-risk youth since its beginnings in 2002. RMEF was one of the first to step up and help launch the outdoor mentoring efforts of Pass It On – Outdoor Mentors in 2002. In the second year of our new Shooting Sports Outreach Program, Pass It On – Outdoor Mentors more than doubled the number of hunts and participants from the first year of the program, fielding over 200 hunts with over 550 participants.
Brittany French, Director of Field Operations commented, “This has been a really exciting year. We have been able to show that our Shooting Sports Outreach Program can be scaled and yields the kind of results needed to create more hunters. We have athletes, volunteer mentors, and landowners flocking to us wanting to get involved. The success of this program would not be possible without folks like RMEF. We are incredibly thankful to have their support in our mission!”
“Mentoring novice hunters and providing first-hand experience with conservation and the outdoors is key to preparing the next generation of stewards,” said RMEF Chief Conservation Officer Blake Henning. “We appreciate the good work carried out by Pass It On – Outdoor Mentors and are proud to help further its mission.”
“Making a difference in the recruitment, retention and reactivation of hunters requires partnership among all of the stakeholders if we’re going to move the needle,” said Mike Christensen, Pass It On – Outdoor Mentors president. “We’re proud to have the support of RMEF as we build this effort on a bigger scale.”
(Photo source: Pass it On – Outdoor Mentors)