Category: St. Clair Business

NWTF auction and fundraiser a huge success

Story and photos by
Graham Hadley

For the first time in a quarter of a century, the local chapter of the National Wild Turkey Federation held a Hunting Heritage Banquet in St. Clair County and marked the event as more of a success than they ever dreamed.

“Even if we had raised half of what we did, I would have considered it a success. We brought in about twice that. This was a fantastic first-time event,” said Jim Tollison, chapter president and chairperson of the fundraiser.

The local branch of the NWTF, called the Logan Martin Longbeards, recently reorganized with the help of the national organization, Tollison and some of his coworkers at Alabama Farm Credit in Talladega, where he serves as the regional vice president, and a host of others throughout the community.

“The NWTF works to protect wild turkey habitats and hunter rights,” Tollison said, pointing out that wild turkeys were all but hunted out in Alabama in the early 1900s. “For years, it was not common to see turkeys around where we live. They had to reintroduce wild turkeys to the state, or we would not have them today.”

Those efforts run the range from conservation to working with communities and government agencies to protect the land and the heritage of the sport.

The event organizers are still adding everything up, but the banquet, held April 3 at Celebrations in Pell City, brought in between $30,000 and $35,000 and attracted more than 150 people.

Aside from the catered dinner by Bowlings BBQ, attendees got to bid on and take part in drawings for a variety of guns and other outdoor and hunting equipment.

“People came together who like the outdoors,” Tollison said. “It was just a great group of people. The Federation had some special guns to win. Some are custom that are only available from the organization.

“It’s always fun to have a live auction – there were a couple of times I realized I was bidding against my wife, Brooke. And she was bidding on lots of stuff – it looked like she was trying to furnish our son, Jay’s, college room with NWTF stuff.

“Brian Worley helped with background checks, and GNX Guns and Bama Guns & Outfitters also were big sponsors.”

Those partners were key to the success. “Chad Camp with Lovejoy Realty really stepped up. He was eager to support the outdoors and did the premiere sponsorship,” Tollison said. Others, like Realtor Dana Ellison and Rob Knight not only sponsored the event, but they came and spent money at the auction.

Other sponsors included Cline & Co Properties; Richey, Price, Sawyer and Associates; THM Electrical and Maintenance Services; Chase Phifer; GNX Gun Exchange; Coosa Guns & Outdoors; Sen. Lance Bell; Bain & Co. CPA; Dixie Sod Farm; Alabama Farm Credit; Farm Systems Inc.; Metro Bank; Covered Bridge Timber Inc.; Rodney Bunt; Knights Plumbing; Ryan’s Hope Poultry Farm; Brooke Tollison, Alfa Insurance; Scott Tucker; and Alex Williamson 

“Celebrations was great to work with. They have upgraded the venue, and everything was perfect for what we wanted to do … have a family friendly event where people could bring their kids and have a fun night.”

Tollison also wanted to thank all the help he had organizing everything, especially from the NWTF and his associates at the bank.

“I had been attending these events in other places as a way to network and build business relationships and finally said to myself, why don’t we do this here? I was sitting with NWTF regional representative Coy Holloway and Hannah Grogan (who became treasurer for the organization) at the bank, and everyone was on board.”

The previous chapter had ceased operations years ago. “When we came up with the name Logan Martin Longbeards and looked it up, turns out the old chapter had used the same name. We had no idea.”

From that group, they organized a board and then put their attention toward the banquet.

“It was really a small core group of people who did most of the work – people from the bank, Coy and others. Brooke was probably one of our top sellers for the event. … And Hanna did a lot of the organizing for the actual event. Representative for NWTF had high praise for her efforts.

“We were blessed this first time.”

The money raised at the event goes to the NWTF efforts, both locally and around the country, with the exception of funding set aside for a local scholarship the Logan Martin Longbeards plan to award.

After the success of this year, Tollison is already looking ahead. “We will be doing this again next year. We had people from Clay and Randolph counties who came out and supported us. I want to reach out to other neighbors, like Talladega and Calhoun counties and get their involvement.”

It was a night of “good fun,” Tollison said, “with a great crowd of quality people who came together to support the NWTF and its efforts.”