Some for the anglers and some for the vets.
Catfish For Veterans (CFV) is a charity cat-fishing tournament to raise money for the Spring Street Veterans Renaissance (veterans shelter) in Springfield, IL. The 2020 tournament will be the 5th year at CFV has contributed to this worthy cause.
The tournament has grown from 28 teams in its first year to more than 70 teams this past September. The annual donation is raised by taking half of the tournament entry fees and set that aside to be donated to the veteran’s shelter. The other half of the entry fees are used as tournament payout for the top three finishing teams and big fish. Historically a small raffle has been offered to add to the donation.
Catfish for Veterans organizer/tournament director Brad Cox has been producing the once a year tournament for 4 years and is looking forward to the fifth in 2020 with a new opportunity to increase the tournaments donation to the shelter.
“I started Catfish For Veterans in 2016,” reported Cox. “It was started as a way to raise money for the veteran’s shelter here in Springfield, IL. The ‘Spring Street Veterans Renaissance’ is a non-profit 501c3 tax-exempt organization that is a homeless shelter/transitional housing program for veterans all over the country.”
Cox explained that the shelter was a pilot program started by the Department of Veterans Affairs and relies mainly on donations to keep the program running. Cox started CFV so he and his anglers could make a yearly donation to the shelter.
“Being a veteran myself I know how difficult it can be to integrate back into civilian life from serving in the military,” Cox said. “Since the first tournament in 2016 we have raised over $20,000.00 for the shelter and have had participants from all over Illinois, Missouri, Iowa, Kentucky, Tennessee, Iowa, and Ohio come to fish the tournament.”
“For our upcoming 5th year we’ve teamed up with Ross Kirkendoll of B&R Marine in Taylorville, IL,” continued Cox. “We are raffling off a 2020 SeaArk ProCat 240, powered by a 250 HP Suzuki. Only 1000 tickets will be sold at $100 each. All the proceeded from the raffle will go directly to the veteran’s shelter.”
The winning ticket will be drawn at 5th Catfish for Veterans tournament in September 2020. The date is yet to be determined.
Anglers interested in joining the fun and maybe winning a new SeaArk ProCat 240 can visit the CFV Facebook page for raffle ticket info, 2020 tournament sponsor updates, and tournament information.
