Last year, we covered a heartwarming story about Whitetails Unlimited (WTU), the Dream Sheds program, and the Catch-A-Dream Foundation. Over the past year, the program has grown yet again for an even bigger payout to a very worthy cause. Last year's (very impressive) grant totaled $65,000 ... and this year it's increased by a third for a total of $96,806 to the Catch-A-Dream Foundation.
Catch-A-Dream is a national, charitable foundation, that provides once-in-a-lifetime dream hunting and fishing trips to children across the United States and Canada, age 18 and younger, who suffer from life-threatening illnesses. Through these adventures, and exposure to outdoors-minded people who care, the program instills in these children a message of encouragement at a time when they need to know that hope does exist. (This is in marked contrast to other such programs that eschew hunting adventures entirely.)
So how did that near-$100,000 grant come into being? Well, most of the funding comes from from Whitetails Unlimited’s Dream Sheds program. The Dream Sheds concept began when Mark and Terry Drury, who have produced extraordinary hunting videos and television shows for over 30 years as Drury Outdoors, approached Whitetails Unlimited with an innovative idea. They had collected a large number of exceptional shed antlers from their properties in Iowa and Missouri and were willing to donate them to use as a fundraiser for a worthy cause.
Working with WTU, the Catch-A-Dream Foundation was identified, and the program came together. Since 2006, Whitetails Unlimited has provided grants totaling more than $880,000 to the Catch-A-Dream Foundation. For more information about the Catch-A-Dream Foundation, visit catchadream.org.
