Youth Shooting Sport Alliance Launches Fundraising Campaign
Safe, Fun, Positive Experiences
As many political leaders seek to overturn...
…the Second Amendment, the closest many young people get to learning about firearms is from a video game controller. Not only does this offer misleading information about proper gun safety but this has created a passive form of entertainment where children often spend far more time on the couch than outside.
Fortunately groups such as the Youth Shooting Sports Alliance (YSSA) are about getting kids back outside, while also teaching firearms safety, creating future responsible gun owners. The 501c3 non-profit organization was founded in 2007 and grew out of the 4H Shooting Sports Foundation.
The YSSA provides equipment to multiple youth organizations include scouting, 4H, school-sponsored shooting programs, summer camps, church groups and even youth programs at local ranges throughout the country.
The equipment is loaned to various programs on an as needed basis, and this can consist of archery equipment, airguns, shotguns, .22 caliber rifles and pistols and other related products. In addition, YSSA also has donated other equipment including hearing and eye protection, as well as soft goods and accessories such as sandbags, range bags, shell bags, archery products and of course paper targets.
To date, YSSA has loaned more than $1.5 million worth of equipment to youth programs across the country and has benefitted more than 85,000 individual participants.
The group is now holding a fundraising campaign to support its various efforts, and money received from this campaign will go towards the purchase of youth equipment, as well as maintenance and storage of the equipment.
“It is absolutely critical for the future of the shooting sports that new generations of kids are indoctrinated to shooting through youth program,” said Cyndi Flannigan, executive director of the Youth Shooting Sports Alliance.
“Providing quality equipment to these programs is essential to ensure that the youth can have a safe and positive experience while having fun,” Flannigan added. “We are strong advocates of getting children outside to participate in all aspects of the shooting sports, so this year we will be adding centerfire rifles to the mix as more youth hunting programs are introduced. YSSA is passionate about the youth shooting sports and we believe it is our duty to give back to an industry that has given so much to us.”
However, to continue to provide such items to various youth organizations across the country the YSSA has called upon industry support as well as donations from individuals.
The fundraising efforts have already attracted support from large equipment donors including Savage Arms, Mossberg, Ruger, Legacy, Henry Repeating Arms, Genesis Bows, and Daisy; as well as from Birchwood Casey, Radians, Champion, Peltor/3M, Boyt and Leupold.
“We feel that the YSSA provides a solution for those programs around the country that are looking for Shooting Sports equipment,” said John MacLellan, vice president of sales and marketing at Mossberg, which has been a proud sponsor of YSSA since its inception in 2007.
“We were very excited to team up with Brand Avalanche on the Spring Guns & Gear Giveaway which gets the YSSA message out to organizations that may be have not known how to introduce safe and responsible shooting sports equipment to our youth,” added MacLellan.
“We couldn’t leave out the tremendous support by the Potterfield’s with the Midway Foundation and other cash donors,” said Flannigan.
Online firearms and accessory auction site GunBroker has also provided support via its auctions. Items that YSSA receives that can’t be used by youth groups are sold on GunBroker and the proceeds used to fund other purchases.
“We appreciate our donors no matter how large or how small,” said Flannigan. “We take all donations and that affords us the ability to make additional monies to purchase more items.”
Please click the following link to enter in the YSSA Spring Giveaway where you can register for a chance to win a broad array of guns and gear, all while helping support the cause! http://www.yssaspringgiveaway.com
Learn more at Youth Shooting Sports Alliance.
