Saturday morning, 27 sport shooters took aim to the sky for Blasting with the Brave at the Santa Rosa Shooting Center (SRSC) in Pace to benefit two military organizations, Project Healing Waters and the Whiting Field Chief Petty Officers Association. According to Fenoy Butler with the CPOA, the fundraiser involved a 100-shot sporting clay competition and took in $5,000.
Bill Thompson, co-owner of SRSC with Dick Miller, said this was the first Blasting with the Brave event at the center. However, through other fundraisers benefitting organizations like the Wounded Warriors, Thompson estimated they’ve returned about $1 million back to the community. “This will grow,” he said. “I’m not interested in one-time events.”
PHW is an organization from Maryland with the goal of rehabilitating disabled active military service personnel and disabled veterans through fly fishing. Butler said he got involved with the event because his brother lost both his legs in Iraq and recovered with the help of PHW. Butler said he is in his last year with the Navy and wanted to retire with this charity event.
Kent Reagan was at the event. He said he went straight into the army after high school and was in for six years and after an eight-month reprieve, joined the Marine Corps and was there for eight years before an attack took the use of his legs. The now wheelchair-bound veteran from NAS Pensacola said he had a choice of group therapy or PHW. He took up fly lure tying and said, “It was a rough start, but it definitely saved my life. (PHW) is good for getting back into society.” Three years later, Reagan sells his own lures in addition to teaching how to tie them.
Reports rang out from the shooting center from 9 a.m. to the afternoon with participants chasing bright orange clay birds flying left and right. Proceeds from the event Butler said went half and half to the CPOA at Whiting Field and PHW. The Santa Rosa Shooting Center is located at 6950 Quintette Road in Pace. Their hours are 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.
This article originally appeared on Santa Rosa Press Gazette: Sport shooting for veterans