The North Fork Breast Health Coalition Gala

The Peconic River Sportsman's Club was founded in the late 1940’s and has had a long history and tradition of community support.

Many people know about the Club, but the information they know is cursory - that it's a private organization in the woods of Manorville where members and guests participate in sporting activities. But this does not begin to touch the heart of this organization or the depth of what they do for the environment and the community.

Most people don't know that a key part of the organization's mission is to conserve wildlife and improve wildlife and freshwater habitats, and to support the local community.   They do this from property that started as a private estate owned by the Woolworth family and was historically used as their retreat and is a conservationist's and nature photographer's dream.

The Peconic River Sportsman's Club was the first private club in the United States to be awarded the EPA's Certificate of Recognition for submitting and implementing their own environmental stewardship plan, and among a variety of activities, one which they undertook at great expense to themselves, is they tend to the Peconic River to help keep an invasive non-native aquarium weed at bay.

In addition to holding firearms instruction and safety classes, archery classes, and skeet, trap, sporting clays, rifle, and pistol competitions, they also provide a variety of community services. They host Sportsman's Education and Youth Conservation Programs, which teaches the principles of conservation, hunter education, and general outdoorsmanship. They also provide vital services for our law enforcement and military including firearms training for New York State and Riverhead Town Police, the FBI, DEC, and Cadets from the U.S. Military Academy of West Point as well as the US Naval Academy.

And as part of their youth club, kids learn about and participate in fishing, camping, and wildlife education programs.

The Club also has a charitable focus that they often quietly carry out. They donate at least $500 per month in food goods to St. Peter and Paul RC Church in Manorville. They raise funds for St. Jude's Children's Research Hospital. They support organizations such as Soldiers on the Sound, Paws of War, the Outdoor Writers Association, Healing Waters, Fires & Drums Foundation, the Manorville Community Ambulance, and the Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts, among others.

And of course, since 2014 they have hosted an annual event called "Take A Shot At Breast Cancer". This event includes a 15-station course of sporting clays, a luncheon, and raffles that raise money for our organization as well as two others who are with us here tonight- Lucia’s Angels and the Babylon Breast Cancer Coalition- focused on women's and late-stage cancers.

This single event raises an average of $30,000 a year for our organizations. Over the years of dedication to this fundraising, each of our three organizations have been the grateful recipients of approximately $60,000 each- generated by the Peconic River Sportsman's Club event.