MANITOULIN—The hunting community is encouraged to enter the annual Bridal Veil Esso Big Buck and Doe contest this year with half the proceeds going toward the Kennedy family of Kagawong, who recently lost their home to a fire.
As was reported in last week’s Recorder, the home of Jody Kennedy and her two children was completely destroyed in an October 28 fire. Both the Billings and Gore Bay fire departments were called in to battle the blaze, but the house was lost. The suspected cause of the fire was a space heater. The family had no home insurance.
Hunter Ed Gravelle was moved by the story and approached Debbie Graham at Bridal Veil Esso about making the proceeds from the annual Big Buck and Doe Contest this year’s charitable cause and Ms. Graham readily agreed.
“We’re hoping to get hunters, from all over Manitoulin, involved this year,” Mr. Gravelle said. He is also collecting donation from Island businesses which can be bid on by hunters going into Bridal Veil Esso during hunting week.
Each year the Kagawong store hosts the contest where hunters pay $10 or $50 per party before the Monday hunt with their harvests being brought to the store for weighing and measurements. The winning deer gets half the cash with the other half going to a charity—the Kennedy family in 2014.
For more information about the Big Buck and Doe Contest, please contact Ms. Graham at 705-282-2593. To leave a donation, contact Mr. Gravelle at 705-368-6685.