Hunt alumnus, family member memorialized; organizer grateful for continued calling

(Editor’s note: Each year, the Pine Hills & Oak Hollars Child’s Classic holds a special Friday night supper for hunters, volunteers and sponsors. This year, president and originator Jeff Carter shared a special message with those present, which we requested to run as a guest column.)
We had a young man who came on our hunt in 2019 by the name of Jack Plowman from Gordo, Ala. His family was not able to be with us on Friday night for the supper due to previous plans.
But I shared how Jack came on our hunt and killed an 8-point buck. He killed ducks on a duck hunt. He killed a doe one afternoon. And he killed rabbits on the rabbit hunt.
He really enjoyed his experience. He was in remission from bone cancer when he was with us, but sometime after he went home, his cancer in his bones came back.
He fought a battle the last 2 1/2 years, in and out of the hospital, struggling. Just a few months ago, he didn’t lose his life--he gained his wings. He fought a really hard battle.
I shared this story because I wanted the people to hear what his dad said. He said that out of all the hunts Jack went on--some hunts he killed bigger deer, and some hunts he enjoyed in certain ways--but what he experienced when he was at our hunt, the Pine Hills and Oak Hollars Child’s Classic in Hamilton, was a love he didn’t experience in the other places.
He not only got to go to places and hunt, but he got to meet land owners who owned the land where he was hunting. He got to kill several different kinds of game, and he often talked about our organization and the impact it had on his life.
His dad told me our organization was a grassroots-type of organization that was full of love. His son was a country boy--a grassroots kind of man--and his heart really connected with us and our people.
And their family’s lives were forever changed with their opportunity of coming to our hunt in 2019.
I wanted to share that with people from our organization who sponsor us--just to let them know--if you ever feel like you’re not seeing proof, here’s proof of the impact you’re having on these young folks’ lives.  
I have two 8 x 10 pictures of Jack and his dad. One is of him and his dad and a deer. One is him and his dad and his brother holding their duck and deer, their newspaper article from the JR, their 3-day DVD and their 20 x 20 cabinet picture at a restaurant in Birmingham when I took them their gifts the summer after the hunt.
They also had a plaque done by Sportees in Hamilton. On that plaque, it has a picture of Jack and his dad and his 8-point buck. At the top, it says “Pine Hills and Oak Hollars Child’s Classic, Oct. 10-13 of 2019.”
It says, “In memory of Jack Plowman, your smile was always contagious, but the impact that you had on our organization is everlasting.”
That plaque and those two 8 x 10 pictures will actually be taken to Gordo at some point, and I will present them to that family.
Another story I shared that night was about our fifth young man, Karson Buckelew, who wasn’t able to go on our hunt this year. We still had all his gifts for him. We had a couple of 8 x 10 pictures of him and his dad from 2024, the previous year’s hunt, when he and his dad came.
Karson didn’t get to kill a deer, so I was going to bring him back this January to let him kill a deer. But his dad had a bad accident about two months before our hunt and lost his life, and Karson just didn’t feel he could come and experience that opportunity again without his dad, and I fully understood that. And my heart broke for that young man.
But he did come to the supper, and we gave him all his gifts. I presented him with the two 8 x 10  pictures of him and his dad. He had his stepmom with him. His grandparents were with him, and his dad’s brother and his wife. So, there were six of them there, and we had a special prayer for them.
We had our group of people who came, and we all prayed for this family--because there is a lot of brokenness, a lot of hurt. And so we wanted to pour some love out on them. The Good Lord allowed us to pray with them. They were heartbroken.
A lot of tears were shed all over the room, but they have since told me they appreciated all the love they felt. And they thanked me for the opportunity to at least get to come to the supper.
We’re thankful every year for the continued calling on our lives the Lord has given us. It’s a blessing to be able to take these kids on a two-day hunt, and even though it’s hard to lose some of our kids and our kids’ parents, I still consider it a blessing to be able to love on their families.
It still gives us an opportunity to show the love the Lord has instilled in us and to be an example to these families and many others we’ve been given the opportunity to share with.
We love this hunt each year. We look forward to it each year, and we’re thankful to everyone who continues to believe in us, support us and help us be able to accomplish what God has called us to do.
(Note: Karson is listed among the hunters in our main article beginning on the front page, because he was on the original roster. We are grateful to Jeff for allowing us to share this story, and we pray God blesses these families, brings them peace, and in time, joyful memories of their loved ones.)