Boy Scouts South Georgia Council plan annual wild game dinner

ALBANY — The Boy Scouts South Georgia Council is planning its 25th annual Wild Game Dinner, Auction and Gun Raffle, which is set for Oct. 10.

The dinner, started by long-time Boy Scouts supporter Lem Griffin, is the largest fundraiser conducted by the council. It generates proceeds for facilities and activities in the council’s 28 counties, benefiting 3,500 scouts in three districts.

“It looks like we will be ahead of last year,” Sam McCord, development director for the South Georgia Council, said.

The game dinner will coincide with the silent auction of some 200 items, and roughly 20 live-auction items. Hunting trips are up for grabs, as are fishing trips, hunting accessories and supplies, jewelry gift certificates, camping items, a Delta Airlines gift card, pet packages, care packages, decoration items, a trip to Medieval Times in Atlanta, a baseball signed by Tim Hudson, tickets to the College Football Hall of Fame, and theater season tickets.

The event will be held at the Potter Community Center at 2621 Wildfair Road. The reception and silent auction will begin at 5:30 p.m. Dinner will start at 6 p.m., and the live auction and a gun raffle will start at at 7 p.m. Individual tickets are available for $40 each, or a table for eight can be reserved for $800.

Raffle tickets are also being sold for $25 each, giving individuals an opportunity to win a deer rifle, 20-gauge shotgun, 12-gauge shotgun or an AR-15. Sponsorships are still available for the event on three levels ranging from $1,200-$2,500.

Officials with the Boy Scouts Council said 46 percent of the council’s funding comes from friends of the Scouts, with 87.16 percent of funding invested in programs. It maintains two camps: Camp Patten in Lanier County and Camp Osborn in Worth County — the latter of which remains damaged from January storms that hit the region — along with service centers in Albany and Valdosta and events such as Scout Camporees, Cub Day Camps, Cub Family Weekends and Merit Badge University.

“There is a lot that drives the machine to support those 3,500 scouts,” Joe Najjar, executive board member for the council, said.

The goal for the 25th annual event is to raise $60,000, well above the $53,000 raised last year. Seventy sponsor tables were accounted for last year, and 55 were accounted for as of Wednesday for this year’s event with 15 usual sponsors still yet to commit.

Tickets, or more information on the event, can be obtained by calling McCord at (229) 300-0649, emailing [email protected] or visiting the council’s office at 1100 N. Madison St.