LIMA — Tri-State Gun Collectors donated $9,000 to 18 area organizations Saturday during the club’s annual members picnic.
Each group, which included the Delphos Optimist Club, the Lima SABRES Shooting Association, and the Allen County Drug Abuse Resistance Education Program, received a $500 donation from the organization.
“We try to support organizations that support the community and our young people,” said Tom Baeumel, treasurer of the Tri-State Gun Collectors. “I’m real pleased we’re able to give back to the community.”
According to Baeumel, the Tri-State Gun Collectors have provided area groups with about $400,000 in donations since the organization began more than five decades ago.
Every year, a four-person committee within the organization reviews dozens of letters requesting funding. Once they narrow down their selections, the committee presents the requests to its board of directors, which votes to approve or deny the requests. The amount donated each year varies, Baeumel said, depending on the organization’s revenue for the current year.
“We’ve given away $1,000 or $1,500 to each group some years,” he said. “It just depends on our revenue, our income, the cost of doing business, and things like that. We try to give away anything that’s over and above our operating cost.”
Baeumel added that the organization earns most of its revenue through membership fees. He said there are around 3,000 members at the moment.
Marilyn Hoffman, a representative of the Delphos Optimist Club, said they will put the $500 donation toward scholarships and other programs they organize for the city’s youth.
“The Tri-State Gun Collectors do an awful lot of good for us, and for a lot of other organizations,” Hoffman said. “I’m just amazed at all the support they give the community.”
Mitch Wynn, a member of the Lima SABRES Shooting Association, said they will use the money for a small-bore rifle competition and trapshooting program the club holds every year for area youth.
“Our youth program would not run without the support of these guys, plain and simple,” Wynn said.
For the Allen County D.A.R.E. program, the donation is also a vital source of funding.
“It means everything to us because there is no budget for the D.A.R.E. program here in Allen County,” said Deputy Mike White, an Allen County sheriff’s deputy who runs the D.A.R.E. program in 11 area schools. “We rely heavily on donations, so organizations such as this are critical to our success.”
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