LL Bean’s Outdoor Discovery School hosting outstanding competition

Rotary fundraiserYes, you could win this competition, scheduled for June 6 – 8 at LL Bean’s Outdoor Discovery School. But the real winners will be the 2600 children served by the Boys & Girls Clubs of Southern Maine, where five clubhouses provide a fun, safe place where kids find trusted, caring adults and can achieve academic and personal success.

The Maine Outdoor Challenge is promoted as “a fun and unique fundraiser for Boys & Girls Clubs of Southern Maine and the Rotary Club of Portland… Helping to change lives and support children and families who need us most.” My friend, Rusty Atwood, an active member of Portland’s Rotary Club, brought this wonderful event to my attention. Money from the event also helps the Rotary provide students with scholarships and mentoring. Internationally they improve the lives of children and families by providing hearing aids, prosthetics, and clean drinking water in the Dominican Republic. Good causes, for sure.

The 2016 Maine Outdoor Challenge is the fifth annual event, and they anticipate as many as 45 teams of five to participate in this three-day competition. Each team participates just one of the days for three hours. Sporting events include clay target shooting (with instruction), fly casting, GPS orienting and archery. No experience is necessary.

So, round up some friends and join the challenge! Teams can register online in the events section at www.bgcmaine.org, for $1000, or pledge to raise a minimum of $1500 on the event’s fundraising pages.

On Wednesday, June 8, the event concludes with a lobster bake and live auction to recognize winning teams, award prizes, draw raffle winners and award door prizes – and celebrate all the good work of these organizations. The lobster bake and auction is included in your registration. Fun!

George Smith

About George Smith

George stepped down at the end of 2010 after 18 years as the executive director of the Sportsman’s Alliance of Maine to write full time. He writes a weekly editorial page column in the Kennebec Journal and Waterville Morning Sentinel, a weekly travel column in those same newspapers (with his wife Linda), monthly columns in The Maine Sportsman magazine, two outdoor news blogs (one on his website, georgesmithmaine.com, and one on the website of the Bangor Daily News), and special columns for many publications and newsletters. Islandport Press published a book of George's favorite columns, "A Life Lived Outdoors" in 2014. In 2014, George also won a Maine Press Association award for writing the state's bet sports blog. In 2016, Down East Books published George's book, Maine Sporting Camps, and Islandport Press published George and his wife Linda's travel book, Take It From ME, about their favorite Maine inns and restaurants.