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By R. R. BRANSTROM
The Daily Press
ESCANABA -- Wildlife Unlimited of Delta County, which has to date raised over $1.5 million that have contributed to outdoor projects in cooperation with charitable organizations also within Delta County, is gearing up for their 42nd annual banquet, which will be held in the Ruth Butler Building on Thursday, Sept. 21.
The aims of the nonprofit corporation -- according to its bylaws -- are to perpetuate wildlife indigenous to the Upper Peninsula, to foster education on the sciences pertaining to such species, to aid conservation of wildlife habitats, and to elevate projects that benefit the public's enjoyment and appreciation of wildlife and related activities.
President Terry Wanic and former board member John Gucky said that past endeavors have included stocking the Escanaba River and others with trout; building and distributing bluebird houses in coordination with the Boy Scouts; reintroducing wild turkeys to Delta County; laying sediment traps and spawning riffles in the Bark River and other waterways; constructing, staffing and stocking the Pocket Park at the fairgrounds; funding U.S. Forest Service studies and many more.
"Those recommendations come to us by request from the organizations -- whether it's the Forest Service or the fishing club or whatever -- and we have a meeting and vote whether we think we should fund that project or not," said Wanic. "Even an individual can submit a project."
At present, 21 board members have a vote.
Wildlife Unlimited of Delta County raises money by selling tickets to its banquets and, at the event, raffling tickets for items donated by or purchased from local businesses. Their banquets have been sold out every year for the last 23, Wanic reported. While the cap used to sit at 500, more tickets have been added this year -- 535 total are available. Members who paid for tickets the previous year are always given first pick, but tickets still remain and may be obtained by calling (906)786-7847.
The first fundraising banquet, held under President Breezy Wellman, was a spaghetti feed at the Gladstone Armory in 1982, said Gucky. Over four decades later, $1.5 million has been raised by the group, which is headquartered in a tiny office in Escanaba, and all of those funds have been directed into projects in the immediate area.
"One thing about our organization is all our money or funds raised are spent here in Delta County. ... Everyone likes to see your money stay in the area, instead of being sent elsewhere," said Gucky.
Some projects have been undetaken year after year, but other focuses have had to pivot out of necessity.
"The other thing that's happened in recent years is that due to staffing issues and that, the DNR and the Forest Service have kind of shut down their projects to a certain extent," Wanic said. "So we really kind of lost a lot of the things that we used to fund because they don't have the staff to even do the field work. So what we did is we kind of unintentionally switched to getting involved with more of the youth group activities like the archery people, the shooting club, Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts of course, National Hunting and Fishing Day..."
Now, as the third week of September approaches, members of the organization are preparing for the big event of the year. Last year's banquet offered 134 raffle prizes, 132 door prizes, and 32 silent aution items.
The top prizes, said Wanic, are all "very expensive guns. The top door prize is three guns."
Anyone interested in finding out more about Wildlife Unlimited of Delta County is encouraged to phone (906)786-1755.