My wife's sister has a step-son. He is 19 now. When he was 17, he broke his neck while diving in a local lake. He has a very nice Winchester 308 with a heavy barrel and a flat bottomed fore end. I saw him asking around if anyone had a scope that he could borrow on Facebook. I loaned him a scope to use until the new scope that I bought him arrived. He has minimal use of his hands, as he is almost entirely paralyzed from his lower neck down. His family has been through a lot of tough times with all of the PT trips and having to buy a special van to get him to school, etc. I think his dad's pride was some what hurt when I got him the new scope. His rifle prints small clover leafs at 100 yards. He will deer hunt this year. I can hardly wait for his first post-accident kill.
When we all gathered for a family dinner for my in-laws anniversary, I got in line behind his dad, Ronnie. I told him that I had remembered that once, many years ago, I had spent every last dollar that I could spare to buy my oldest son his first deer rifle when he was ten. The problem was that I couldn't even afford a box of shells for him to hunt with it, much less get it sighted in. I reminded Ronnie that it was he, who out of the goodness of his heart, brought over a box with at least 200 rounds for us that deer season. I told him that I had wanted to do something for him ever since then, and that was what went through my mind when Cody asked for a scope on Facebook. His pride was no longer injured. He smiled like he had just got to spank M. Obama really hard.
BTW, our community is raising money so that Cody can compete in the handi-capped Olympics wheel chair race. We're getting him a special 3 wheeled racer. This kid was always wide open...he still is.
I think it's great what you are all doing to further our sport through your giving. Thanks for all that you do.
