On Sunday, November 20th from 2pm to 6pm at the Medina Entertainment Center (Hwy 55 west of Minneapolis) friends of the Kurt Beckstrom family are hosting a special event. I would like to extend an invitation for everyone in the IDA family to attend and help out a great cause.
The purpose of the event is to raise funds for the Beckstrom family. Kurt Beckstrom is the long-time editor of North American Fisherman magazine, TV host of Fishing Club Journal and MWC East emcee. His youngest son, Jake, age 16 and a junior at Watertown Mayer High School in Watertown, MN, had a diving accident 8/11/05. He is now paralyzed from the chest down – and working hard at rehabilitation at Sister Kenny. The costs associated with Jake’s condition are astronomical. In addition to mounting medical and therapy expenses, the Beckstroms will need a motorized wheelchair that costs as much as a luxury car, a lift van for daily transportation, and extensive remodeling of their house to prepare for Jake’s eventual return.
This event will be a great time, and will benefit a great cause. There will be food, drink, entertainment, games, and prizes. We will be having both live and silent auctions for a truly amazing list of items. There may well be some famous faces from the fishing world for you to chat with. Where else are you ever going to get a chance to win a day fishing with Al Lindner himself.
The 1st place raffle prize is a Tracker Pro Team 175 17-foot aluminum fishing boat with a 50-horsepower Mercury four-stroke outboard, trailer and MotorGuide trolling motor. 2nd place will be a Yamaha Digital Home Surround Sound Theatre and 3rd place will be an I-Pod.
The auction / prize list is long and loaded with great items such as
Archery- Matthews Storm Newberry etc
Fishing trips with many fishing celebs and pros- Lindner Dahlberg Skarlis Candle Anlauf etc etc
Fishing tackle and equipment
Fishing trips from around the world -US Canada Mexico
Footwear
Guided fishing trips
Golf gear
Hunting gear –clothing and equipment
Home electronics- Yamaha
Marine electronics- Vexilar Hummingbird Minnkota Aqua Vu etc etc
Outdoor clothing and raingear
Outdoor art
Optics- Bushnell Tasco Bolle H2Optix etc etc
Rods and reels- Eagle Claw G Loomis Shakespeare Shimano Okuma etc etc
Tools
And many more items to numerous to list, with more arriving daily.
Anyone serious about hunting and fishing should try to attend. There will be amazing items – who knows what they will go for!!!
For those that would like to make a monetary donation they can be sent to.
Jake Beckstrom
Bremer Bank
301 Territorial St. E
Watertown MN. 55388
For those who would like to follow Jakes progress you can go to http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/jakebeckstrom
If you have questions regarding the benefit, have an item that you would like to donate to the auction or would like to help at the benefit, please contact:
Denise Gehlhausen @ 952-237-7406 or email [email protected]
or myself [email protected]
You can purchase raffle tickets at the event or if you are unable to attend, by sending a check made out to Mayer Watertown DandyLions (this is the non-profit that we are working with)
$5 per ticket
Packets of 20 for $100
Obviously any amount is fine!
Send to:
Kristine Houtman
NAMG
12301 Whitewater Drive
Minnetonka, MN 55343
Many thanks to everyone for your support.