The Silver Willow Sporting Club hosted its 27th Annual Winter Classic Shoot on Dec. 5 in support of local charities. The event sees competitors donate an unwrapped gift for a boy or girl as part of their admission to the competition.
In the past these donations were given to the Calgary Mustard Seed Santa's Workshops for underprivileged families. However in recent years Silver Willow has chosen to give all the donated toys to more local organizations.
The Carstairs Lions Club Christmas Hampers Program received approximately half of this year's toy drive. The other half went to the Cremona Santa's Anonymous for distribution to families in need in the west area of Mountain View County.
Many of the more than 500 toys, with an estimated value totalling about $8,000, came from the Calgary Firefighters Toy Association, many of whose members are active members at Silver Willow.
Some competitors chose to give cash instead of toys bringing in an additional $800 lump sum that was donated to the Carstairs CRASH youth drop-in centre.
“The generosity of our shooters is simply overwhelming,” said Silver Willow co-owner Gwen Day. “Some of our members have participated in this event every year since we opened in 1988.”
The unseasonal warm December temperatures attracted 74 competitors from all over Alberta and British Columbia to this year's event. The winner was Cory McConnell, shooting a 91 out of 100.
