Pass It On – Outdoor Mentors and Outdoor Heritage Education Center sign MOU to get more youth outdoors

OHEC will work with PIO to expand Shooting Sports Outreach Program in Wisconsin.

Wichita, KS- The Outdoor Heritage Education Center, a charitable non-profit organization based in Hazel Green, WI and Pass It On – Outdoor Mentors will be working together to expand the rapidly growing Shooting Sports Outreach Program to Wisconsin.

“The US Clay Target League and the Scholastic Clay Target Program are rapidly growing, currently engaging over 6,000 youth in shooting sports in WI. Our Shooting Sports Outreach Program works to bridge the gap between the shooting sports and hunting,” stated Brittany French, Director of Field Operations for Pass It On – Outdoor Mentors. “We’ve proven that our model works in Kansas, we’ve had a successful pilot program in Iowa and we’re ready to expand to other states that have vibrant youth shooting sports programs.”

Pass It On – Outdoor Mentors launched it’s Shooting Sports Outreach Program in Kansas in 2019, coordinating 89 hunts for over 220 youth. In the 2020 hunting season, over 180 hunts have been hosted, engaging over 500 youth, with turkey season coming up. “We want to see these student athletes hunt a variety of species, engaging them and their families with dove, deer, duck, geese, upland, small game and turkey hunts,” said French. “We feel that it’s critical that today’s youth be given multiple opportunities to hunt, hopefully making them life-long hunters and conservationists.”

“Our first task will be to raise the funds we need to hire a full-time Program Coordinator in WI and OHEC as usual was first to pledge support,” indicated Mike Christensen, President of Pass It On – Outdoor Mentors. “This position is responsible for coordinating all aspects of the hunt, from arranging access to properties to hunt, to recruiting the youth hunters and mentors/volunteers who will share their outdoor expertise with the new hunters.”

OHEC support helps PIO begin to build a Shooting Sports Outreach Program in WI that will help ensure that the Wisconsin outdoor heritage is successfully passed along to the next generation.

About Outdoor Heritage Education Center
OHEC was founded in 1998 to connect people and resources. OHEC volunteers and donors have helped launch clay target teams in a number of Wisconsin schools. OHEC is a major influence in recruitment, retention and reactivation (R3) efforts that fit will its mission to help pass along our outdoor heritage to future generations who were losing touch with the natural world, and to increase the public’s understanding, appreciation and sense of stewardship for natural resources and related activities like fishing, hunting and other shooting sports.

About Pass It On – Outdoor Mentors

Pass It On – Outdoor Mentors, Inc. is a Wichita, Kansas-based national organization dedicated to providing children with mentors who will share with them the experiences of traditional outdoor activities. The heart of the group’s mission is to give children opportunities to connect with nature that they more than likely won’t have without a mentor showing them the way. Partnering with organizations with like-minded conservation and youth participation efforts like Big Brothers Big Sisters, Pheasants Forever, the National Shooting Sports Foundation, Delta Waterfowl, the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation and the National Wild Turkey Federation, among others, volunteers with a passion for the outdoors can give a child the chance to go fish, hunt, or simply spend time in the fields with a caring adult. For more information about Pass It On – Outdoor Mentors, please visit http://www.outdoormentors.org.