The Friends of the NRA will be hosting a banquet in Wrangell this Saturday, beginning at 5 p.m., at the Nolan Center. This has been a highly attended event in previous years, with many Wrangell residents coming out for good food, auctions, and the opportunity to buy or win new guns.
Greg Stephens, NRA field representative for Southern Alaska, said he believes this will be the fourth year in a row they have held a banquet in Wrangell. It has always been a sold-out event, he said, and he expects the same this year.
"I have no doubt the local committee will do a great job," he said.
Besides food and firearms, the banquet serves as an important fundraiser for the organization. The Friends of the NRA is a grassroots effort under the NRA Foundation, according to their website, that works to raise money in support of shooting sports and the second amendment. According to their website, the Friends of the NRA hosted 1,100 events last year and awarded 3,000 grants across the country. Half of the money raised by the Friends of the NRA goes to nation-wide projects, while the other 50 percent go to funding state and local projects. Stephens said he could not speak to national numbers, but just over $500,000 went to grant applications across the state last year.
"In Alaska, last year, we had just over 75 grant applications," he said.
Wrangell has been the recipient of some of this grant money, as well. Recently, the NRA Foundation gave a $14,500 grant for improvements to the city's outdoor gun range. Some of the improvements, recently finished or soon-to-be completed, include construction of a walking path, replacement of pavilion roofs, and making the shotgun range more accessible.
Future gun range improvements are being planned, as well. Several local organizations met in September to discuss potential renovations to the gun range. These included new signage, security cameras, getting utilities extended to the gun range, and construction of a new trap house. The Stikine Sportsmen and the Wrangell Rod and Gun Club, who collaborated on last year's grant, will be pursuing another grant application this year
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