A Friends of NRA banquet held March 30 set a benchmark for 15 years of dedication and loyalty. The $80,000 raised by the 2007 MidHudson Friends of NRA dinner in Poughkeepsie, NY put the total net income raised by Friends of NRA, since its inception in 1992, to over $100 million. A total of 610 guests attended the banquet, which was held on March 30th. It took 9,250 events for Friends of NRA to eclipse the $100 million mark, averaging a little over $10,000 per banquet.

The Mid-Hudson Friends of NRA Committee.

Friends of NRA is a grassroots fundraising program that supports thousands of programs related to firearms education, hunter safety, wildlife conservation, range improvements, youth marksmanship, law enforcement, etc. Working with NRA field representatives, members and volunteers organize banquets in their communities, complete with auctions, special drawings, and fellowship. Much of the merchandise at the banquets is donated or provided at reduced cost by hundreds of participating vendors.

"As frontline defenders of the Second Amendment, NRA members time and again showcase their dedication, effectiveness, and hard work that make Friends of NRA events so enormously successful," said NRA Executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre. "The volunteers devote countless hours of energy organizing the banquets, and thousands upon thousands of NRA members have been attending and contributing every year since the program was launched. These folks are the backbone of NRA and their efforts are invaluable in helping build a firewall around the Second Amendment to preserve America's unique freedoms."

Half of the profit raised by each Friends of NRA banquet must be spent in the state in which it was held. The other half supports qualifying national-level programs like Eddie Eagle or Women On Target^®. State Fund Committees made up of volunteers review grant applications from local organizations and make recommendations to The NRA Foundation on how the money might best be used in their areas.

"The Friends of the NRA is the face of the NRA, run at the grassroots level by all walks of life," commented Gale Knull, chairman of the MidHudson Friends of NRA committee. "In our committee, we have a large-city fire chief, air controller, engineer, retired police officer and some teachers. You can't get any more diverse than that."

To find a Friends of NRA in your area, visit www.nrafoundation.org/friends.