KFAN Goes to
the Phones to Help Build a Wildlife Area
Campaign Goal
within Reach for Thursday Night Broadcast
St. Paul,
Minn. – September 28, 2004
– KFAN radio (AM 1130) will host the 2nd annual
Build a Wildlife Area phone-a-thon during October 7th’s
Fan Outdoors
broadcast. The broadcast will begin at 7 p.m. and will
focus on all things pheasant, gearing up for Minnesota’s
pheasant hunting opener on October 16th.
Fan Outdoors co-hosts Rob Drieslein and Billy
Hildebrand will broadcast live from the Forest Lake Gander
Mountain where they’ll be joined by campaign partners from
Pheasants Forever (PF). The Build a Wildlife Area
partnership hopes to reach their goal of $75,000 during the
show’s broadcast. Once raised, that $75,000 will be matched
through PF grants to purchase a new wildlife management area
(WMA) in Minnesota.
Last
year’s Build a Wildlife Area campaign reached its $50,000
goal during the KFAN phone-a-thon. Over $5,000 in donations
came into PF during last year’s broadcast. This year’s
campaign has already generated just under $70,000. Campaign
partners are hoping KFAN listeners will show even greater
support this year to once again reach the goal during the
broadcast.
Through
PF matching grants with the Minnesota DNR and the U.S. Fish
and Wildlife Service (USFWS), all campaign contributions
will be tripled. PF,
Outdoor News, and Game Fair developed the
campaign strategy and generated over $55,000 in donations
last year that were matched by those grants to reach a total
of $165,000. Last year’s partnership successfully completed
the purchase of a new 318-acre Morrison County WMA in just
over five months. That WMA, the Mud Lake WMA, is open to
public hunting this fall.
Founding
partners, PF, Outdoor
News, and Game Fair are all on board in 2004, as
are the campaign’s largest contributors in 2003 – Gander
Mountain, Federal Premium Ammunition, North Country Ford,
the Minnesota DNR, USFWS, KFAN, and the Minnesota Deer
Hunters Association. Gander Mountain made this year’s first
contribution by agreeing to match every individual donation
up to $10,000. New partners for 2004 are Apple Auto Group,
Referral Mortgage, Simek’s quality foods, and Big Al’s
Gourmet Pies. Apple Auto Group has contributed $20,000 and
Referral Mortgage has donated another $10,000 to this year’s
campaign.
Individual contributions to the campaign are already in
excess of $15,000. PF’s Anoka County Chapter has led the
way with fundraising efforts at Game Fair that generated
over $10,000. And, PF’s Hastings Chapter also made a $5,000
contribution to the effort.
As a
special incentive, Federal Premium Ammunition will be giving
donors of $500, or more, a special Scot Storm print during
the telethon. Scot Storm is the 2004 Federal and Minnesota
duck stamp artist. He is also a long-time PF artist.
Federal will be underwriting the award of Storm’s
Legacy IV print,
which features three flying pheasants. It has a retail
value of over $250 and is exclusive to PF events. In
addition to the print, contributors of $500, or more, will
also have their names included on the permanent monument at
the WMA.
Donations
to the “Build a Wildlife Area” campaign can be made during
the phone-a-thon by calling PF toll free at (877)773-2070.
PF will also accept donations to the campaign any day during
business hours at the same phone number, or by emailing PF
at
kcarlson@pheasantsforever.org.
