Shooters try to win a turkey during the South County Moose Lodge’s annual Turkey Shoot.
The South County/Deale Moose Lodge is holding its annual two-month long turkey shoots, each Sunday starting at noon.
The weekly shoots are three dozen rounds, with every round delivering a specific prize, including turkey, steak, ham, shrimp, or cold, hard cash in the form of 50-50 or "take all" rounds. The price for each round varies; the cheapest is the $2 round for the turkey. The priciest is $5.75 for the steak or shrimp rounds.
The participants pay the fee for the round, get their shotgun shells from a volunteer, then line up with their own 12-guage shotguns with a dozen or so others - men, women and teens - to shoot at a target that is half a football field away. The target is a small piece of paper with a round bulls eye marked on it. The shot scatters all over the target, and when everyone has taken their turn, volunteers run out to remove the targets, and put up new ones for the next round.
The judges examine the targets to see who has the shot most focused in the center.
For people who participate, it is a chance to win a turkey for $2, and get a little target practice. For the Moose, it is a way to raise funds for their Shady Side post. However, a good bit of the money is given away to support activities in the community and local, disadvantaged families.
This year, they'll be providing dinners for six to eight area families for Thanksgiving and Christmas. They'll also be providing those families with gifts for the children.
Of the expected $10,000 they hope to raise, they'll spend upward of $4,000 to help local families.
"We go to Shady Side Elementary and Lula G. Scott to help us determine needy families," said Roland Hough, the post governor.
"The dinner is turkey, canned goods - basically everything you'd need for a complete Thanksgiving and Christmas dinner," Roland said.
The food is delivered frozen, canned and fresh so that the families can prepare the food to their liking.
The turkey shoots attract several dozen people each weekend. They're averaging about 650 targets per weekend, or roughly 18 shooters lining up for each round.
Charlie Carper won round 27 on Sunday. He took $35 for a $3.50 stake in the 50-50 round.
"I come out for the sport of it. It's always a lot of fun," Charlie said as he stashed his winnings into his pant's pocket.
"It is a surprisingly affordable way to have a family outing," Roland said, adding that it may "seem like an oxymoron to have guns and trucks and beerand call it a family outing." But, he said that people like to bring their kids to teach them about guns and gun safety.
On Sunday a few dads were there with their sons, patiently showing them how to position the weapon and aim for the target.
The turkey shoots run for two months - the final outing will be the second Sunday in December this year. It is held outdoors in the empty field and parking area adjacent to Park's Liquor on Bay Front Road in Deale.
For more information, call the South County Deale Moose Lodge at 410-867-4875.
The Southern High School Girl's volleyball team recently held a breast cancer awareness program for students and faculty at the Harwood school.
Earlier this school year, Southern coach Meghan Davis got a call from Lauren Boyd, volleyball coach at Severna Park High School. Lauren wanted to enlist as many other schools as possible to do an event to raise money and awareness for breast cancer, since October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month.
Meghan presented the idea to her girls - several with mothers, grandmothers or friends who are breast cancer survivors.
"Everyone wanted to do it," Meghan said.
The actual date of the countywide event that Lauren proposed, Oct. 20, was not a date when Southern had a home game, so they took their contributions to the game at Meade High School on Tuesday. Meade was also a participant.
But they did a lot of their own work to research breast cancer awareness for themselves and their friends, and dedicated their next home game to the women they knew who were survivors.
In the month of October, at each practice, they would show up a half hour early to hear a talk about breast cancer.
On one outing, school nurse Sue Comly came to talk about the importance of self-exams. She brought a replica with a lump that the girls could manipulate to feel with their own hands what a mass might feel like.
"I learned how to do self examinations, and I also learned that getting the word out can help people survive," said Shellie Aylor, a varsity player and team co-captain.
Other speakers, Michelle Molloy and Joyce Price, are both survivors who live in the community. The women talked about how the diagnosis changed their lives, and gave the teens an opportunity to ask questions.
Last Thursday, the girls made the theme of their home game "dig pink." They decorated the gym with pink streamers and posters. One of the team dads, Brian Wiseman, donated money so that the girls could purchase pink socks, and they bought pink shirts that read, "Peace, Love, Volleyball."
Their game program was printed on pink paper and listed the names of breast cancer survivors who are family and friends of the players.
JV player Ashley Marshall's mother, Amy Marshall, and maternal grandmother, Evelyn Helevy, both survived the disease.
"I thought that I knew a lot about breast cancer," Ashley said. "But I actually learned a lot. I already do cancer walks and raise money for Susan G. Komen and all of that, but there was so much I didn't know, about doing self exams and when to get a mammogram," she said.
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