Alaskan Frontier: A Friends of NRA success story

The following is an excerpt from the Alaska Friends of NRA article found in the upcoming edition of Traditions, the publication of The NRA Foundation. It comes to us from Nicole McMahon.

In early 2007, the Alaska Friends of NRA took a long hard look at their Anchorage Banquet. Anchorage is the biggest city in Alaska and has over a third of its population, yet the Anchorage banquet had struggled for many years. In 2004 they had 155 people in attendance and netted just over $8,000.

A flash of brilliance hit State Fund Committee Chairman Scott Hamann: “What if we transformed the Anchorage Banquet into the Alaska State Friends of NRA Banquet?" This idea caught on like wildfire throughout the entire Alaska Friends of NRA. However, they did not just want to change the name, they wanted to rewrite the book. The goal of the Alaska State Friends of NRA banquet would be to have the biggest and the most exciting banquet in Alaska.

To have a committee of this scope, size and objective, a strong leader is needed and that leader is Denny Hamann. He leads by example and has an incredible ability to break an obstacle down to its smallest parts and then eliminate them one by one. A strong leader is not the only part vital to creating an outstanding banquet; it also takes a strong committee, which the Alaska State Friends of NRA committee is.

The First Annual Alaska State Friends of NRA Banquet was held in October of 2007. The committee worked around the clock to ensure that their banquet was a success. All their hard work paid off as they held a fantastic, fun banquet and netted over $56,000. At the end of the night, when all the numbers were crunched, Hamann looked dejected. When asked why he responded, “I wanted $75,000!”

At the 2008 Alaska State Fund Committee meeting, the State Committee vowed that they would go over $100,000 in 2008. To do this, they would need the other committees pledging their support, which they unanimously received.

To learn more about Friends of NRA, visit FriendsofNRA.org. If you are interested in getting involved in a Friends of NRA Committee, contact your local NRA Field Representative.