Rotarians’ Wild Game Night a boon for local charities

By LINDA CHION KENNEY

The Rotary Club of Brandon held its 44th annual Wild Game Night on March 6, raising more than $80,000 for local charities, including the Sandy and George Simmons Family Boys & Girls Club in Riverview and the Good Samaritan Mission in Wimauma.

Some 700 attendees congregated at Lupton’s Boggy Bottom Event Ranch in Plant City for the stag event, where the feast included 350 to 400 pounds of wild game hunted throughout the year by club members, according to event chair Joe Campoamor, president of Integrity First Title in Lithia.

LINDA CHION KENNEY PHOTOS
Getting ready for the start of Wild Game Night on March 6, from left, Rotary Club of Brandon members and Riverview residents Pat Skidmore, Larry Fassett and Bob Solano; Joe Campoamor, event chair; John Dwyer, club president; and Chris Myers, a club member for four years.

Menu items this year included deer, hog, elk, goose, duck, quail, alligator and clams. “What we shoot, we shoot for a reason,” said John Dwyer, president of the Brandon Rotary club, about the game hunted and served at Wild Game Night. “We’re hunting to feed people and not just to hunt, and we’re giving money right back to the community.”

One of the oldest Rotary clubs in the Tampa Bay area, the Brandon club draws its members primarily from the Greater Brandon, Valrico and Riverview areas. Founded in 1962 and established in 1961, the Brandon club helped in the establishment of the Brandon ’86, Brandon South and FishHawk-Riverview Rotary clubs.

Wild Game Night is a signature fundraiser for the Brandon club, held annually in March. “It’s about fellowship, having a good time and raising a lot of money for charities in the area,” Dwyer said.

Also set to receive funds from the event are Boy Scouts of America and the Brandon Sports and Aquatic Center; the Emergency Care Help Organization (ECHO), which recently expanded into Riverview; the Outreach Clinic, which serves Hillsborough County; and the Grow Into You Foundation in Riverview, driven to “provide coaching and mentoring services to individuals experiencing a hardship, particularly youth and those within the foster care system.

“That’s what it’s all about, to raise money for local charities, to benefit them and keep them going so they can serve other folks,” said Rotarian Patrick Skidmore, broker and president of All Ready Property Management Realty in Riverview.

Chuck Burgess, right, past president of the Rotary Club of Brandon, with his long-time friend Aaron Swartzman, dressed in aprons and gloves as they tend to their volunteer food assignment at the 44th annual Wild Game Night.

Skidmore has been both a club member and Wild Game Night attendee for 37 years. With him this year were both his sons, Patrick Skidmore II, 34, also a club member, and Andrew, 32.

Asked what he most enjoyed eating at Wild Game Night, the elder Skidmore didn’t skip a beat. “Certainly the ribs and the roasted pork,” he said, “and the collard greens weren’t too bad either.”

Rotarian Rocky Santa Cruz, the retired veterinarian who founded the Santa Cruz Animal Clinic in Brandon, said he remembers the first annual Wild Game Night, the brainchild of Rotarian Mel Belise.

“At the time we were looking for a fundraiser and he had the idea for Wild Game Night,” Santa Cruz said. Over the years, “it caught on and got bigger and bigger,” he added. “The people who come just really enjoy the camaraderie, the social part of it, and the food is just secondary.”

Before the guests arrived, Rotarian J.J. Massaro talked about the organized “mass chaos” soon to get underway, with hundreds of hungry Rotarians, friends and family members lining up at the buffet, featuring, among other things, collard greens, baked beans, cornbread, corn-on-the-cob, pulled pork and catfish on request.

“Everybody had plenty to eat and drink, and the end result is we raised a lot of money,” said Massaro, an account executive with Integrity First Title and the son-in-law of Jim Mellody, founder of Beef ‘O’ Brady’s. “As Rotarians we’re all responsible to network and sell tickets and get sponsorships.”

Rotarians, from left, Liz Brewer, dentist Craig Oldham and Fred Schwabe, with his brother, Wendell, on deck to sign folks in to the 44th annual Wild Game Night, a stag event now in its 44th year.

Also on tap at the event were silent and live auctions, featuring signed jerseys and hockey sticks from Tampa Bay Lightning players, and outdoor equipment, including bows and arrows, rifles and fishing gear.

For many Rotarians — including Campoamor; Skidmore; businessman Bob Solano; Roger Rivard, of Rivard Buick GMC; and Tom Odiorne, of Odiorne Insurance — the event is a family affair, with fathers, brothers, sons, and nephews and cousins in attendance, as well.

“I’ve been coming since I was about 13 or 14,” said Timothy Solano, now 23. “It’s a family tradition, and it’s more than just meeting with your buddies and congregation. The meaning behind it is that it’s all for the charities.”

The Rotary Club of Brandon meets at noon on Tuesdays at the club-owned Rivard-Simmons Rotary Event Center in Brandon at 3007 South Kings Ave. The center is available for public rentals as well. Visit www.BrandonRotary.org.

LINDA CHION KENNEY PHOTOS Long-time Rotarian Roger Rivard, of Rivard Buick GMC, gets set for the 44th annual Wild Game Night, for which he stepped up as a Big Buck Sponsor.

Brandon Rotarian Joe Campoamor looks over rifles on display at the Wild Game Night live auction area March 6. Campoamor for years has been chair of the event, which this year raised more than $80,000 for local charities.

Rotarian Bob Solano, right, with his brother Britt and nephews Daniel and Timothy give testament to the generational draw of the Rotary Club of Brandon’s annual Wild Game Night, now in its 44th year.

At the outdoor silent auction, next to a Fire Hose American Flag, donated by Rotarian Chris Myers, from left, Rotarians Rocky Santa Cruz, Joe Campoamor and J.J. Massaro.

Pig marinated two days with Cuban-inspired mojo sauce, then roasted four hours in a La Caja China roasting box, results in a tasty appetizer for Wild Game Night attendees March 6.

Guests at the 44th annual Wild Game Night fundraiser hosted by the Rotary Club of Brandon at Lupton’s Boggy Bottom Event Ranch in Plant City line up for buffet dining, with dishes that included deer, hog, elk, goose, duck, quail, alligator and all the trimmings.