By Rob Everingham
A good time for a good cause is just one of the slogans of the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation and the Hi-Line chapter will be holding its second annual dinner and benefit auction Saturday, June 19.
The event will take place on the campus of MSU-Northern in the SUB Ballroom.
A social hour will begin at 5:30 p.m., followed by a banquet at 7 p.m. and an auction at 8 p.m. Also during the auction the local group will announce the winners of the raffle and also the silent auction.
Some of the prizes to be auction off are a banquet gun and banquet knife. Also they will auction of some great prizes with a handmade gun cabinet and some handmade jewelry boxes.
The Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation was started 15 year ago and the headquarter are in Missoula. The foundation was set up to ensure the future of elk and other wildlife as well as maintaining their habitat. They are a non-profit organization dedicated to conservation in North America.
The foundation has members in all 50 states as well as several foreign countries. In Montana there are 23 chapter that range from Libby to Miles City to Hamilton to Glasgow.
The Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation has been know for their low overhead. The foundation spends just 4.6 percent of each dollar on administrative costs and 3.6 percent on fund raising. The remaining 91.8 percent all goes to their efforts.
Hi-Line chapter member Mark Stolen said the members of the Hi-line chapter will start work at about 7 a.m. on Saturday and work until 3 p.m. setting up for the event.
Stolen said there are many hunters in the organization but added that they are not a specific hunting organization.
Every chapter in the state has the right to vote on were the money will be spent and Stolen said they hope to bring some of this years money close to home.
There are eight different federal programs that fund the foundation and four state programs. In the state, Fish, Wildlife and Parks, the Department of state lands, Montana State University and the University of Montana.
Auctioneer Shane Ophus will be donating his time and experience to the foundation.
With out those kind of people it would be hard to have a banquet, Stolen said.
To join the foundation you can call 1-800-CALLELK (1-800-225-5355 ex. 401).
