REED CITY —Tightlines for Troops, the non-profit that takes veterans on free fishing excursions on Lake Michigan is getting a very generous donation, thanks to some Northern Michigan businesses.
Sunny’s Sports Bar & Grill, Northend Meat & Produce, and Ashton Store in Osceola County held their annual Bar Vs. Store Golf Challenge.
The past three years, the proceeds have gone to benefit Tightlines for Troops but this year they were able to quadruple the amount raised in years’ past.
Jesse Kailing, the owner of Sunny’s Bar & Grill in Reed City said it started as just a little friendly competition for their patrons but morphed into a fundraiser, giving the proceeds to the non-profit.
“Five years ago, we started a golf tournament just for fun. What we call the store versus bar, and we get 20 or 30 of our friends and local and basically good customers that we have. And we play a golf term against each other and we have a traveling trophy,” said Kailing.
For the past three years, they’ve given the proceeds to Tightlines for Troops.
“We love our veterans. They have done so much for us. They sacrificed for us. And this is no big deal for us doing that for them,” said Kailing.
Dan Goodman co-owns both Ashton Store and Northend Meat & Produce. He said they were told about Tightline for Troops from friends.
“I do have veterans in my family. I wasn’t real familiar with this organization until our friends brought it forward to us, but I’m certainly glad they did,” said Goodman.
He said they were surprised by how much they raised but attributes it to changes in the event.
“We had some larger donations than normal, some bigger prizes. Rather than doing door prizes, we decided to auction it off and with the money donated to Tight Lines for Troops. And the participants we had, all of our customers really took to it. And it was a fun auction,” said Goodman.
He said the first year, they raised $800, the second was $1800, but this year, they raised over $9,000.
Tightlines for Troops board member, Craig Kent said they are blown away by the generous donation.
Especially in a community that’s a little farther away than our little town of Manistee, it’s unbelievable that these guys have gone to this effort to raise money for our event that’s not really in their backyard. So, it was just such a huge relief,” said Kent.
He said the non-profit operates strictly on donations and 500 plus volunteers.
Kent said there are a lot of expenses tied to the two-day event.
“We always get short on money after the event every year. And this allows us to be more comfortable going into the fall, paying our bills, getting our things ordered. It really, really helps everybody out. And it’s such a great thing for our veterans,” said Kent.
Kent says Tightlines for Troops is set for May 15th and 16th of next year.
Veterans who signed up last year but missed out due to bad weather are promised a spot.
“Anyone who attended last year was not able to fish because of the weather needs to sign up again so that they can get into the event this year and they’ll have several months to get signed up,” said Kent.
The application period starts November 1st thru March 1st.