By Cameron Pauli, Digital Media Specialist at USSA
The U.S. Sportsmen’s Alliance considers itself lucky to have volunteers like Jamie Lukens, a Local Field Director (LFD) from Ohio. Lukens, who started volunteering in March of 2014, knew little about USSA prior to contacting the organization, and has since grown to love and promote everything the organization embodies.
“USSA is the only group that I’m aware of that will come out and say that they support hunting, fishing and trapping. Other organizations only promote involvement in a particular form of hunting, such as bowhunting or waterfowl hunting,” said Lukens. “Unifying all the activities that sportsmen participate in under one banner really attracted me to the organization.”
Lukens learned about the volunteer opportunity through USSA’s Facebook page, which serves as a great resource for those wanting to learn more about our work and youth programs.
“When I saw that USSA was looking for volunteers to run the Trailblazer event, I thought to myself: what a great opportunity this would be to work with youth,” said Lukens. “I helped run a Trailblazer event this past August. It was a unique experience to work with the youth and introduce them to a variety of outdoor activities.”
Trailblazer, a youth program run by USSA, is the largest outdoor program of its kind, and has exposed more than 1.8 million youth and their families to outdoor sports since 2001. Lukens hopes the program will help kids discover some aspect of hunting, shooting or fishing that they will enjoy and continue to pursue throughout their lives.
When questioned about what sportsmen can do to create a positive image of hunting, fishing and trapping for the public, Lukens offers a simple solution.
“Sportsmen need to unite and stand together. Hunters argue about the silliest of things, like what kind of broadhead to shoot or whether or not it’s ethical to harvest a whitetail with a bow versus a firearm. Our rights are under attack and if we do not learn to get along we’ll never be as strong as we need to be.”
Lukens also founded and serves as president of The Sportsmen of Tomorrow, a non-profit group in northeast Ohio dedicated to exposing kids to the outdoors. You can learn more about The Sportsmen of Tomorrow by visiting their Facebook page.