MAJOR GIFTS AND PLANNING
Honoring the People of MBNA America Bank for Their Steadfast Support of Ducks Unlimited
More than 70 people gathered in Sussex County, Delaware, on September 6, 2002, to celebrate the dedication of the Sassafras Landing Restoration Project to MBNA America Bank. This exemplary project honors MBNA’s past support through the Ducks Unlimited affinity credit card program and philanthropy, and its renewed and enhanced commitment to Ducks Unlimited’s conservation mission.
MBNA and DU became partners in 1986. No other partner has contributed so significantly to Ducks Unlimited: Over the past 16 years, MBNA has contributed more than $40 million to DU through the organization’s affinity credit card program. Today, there are more than 120,000 DU/MBNA credit card holders. MBNA has also been a generous supporter of DU’s National Convention, National Shooting Program, Great Outdoors Festival, and Partners Summit.
The Sassafras Landing Restoration Project was made possible by MBNA and the partnership between Ducks Unlimited and the Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environment Control. The project is located on the 2,595-acre Assawoman Wildlife Area and highlights DU’s habitat restoration work to save Chesapeake Bay by improving waterfowl habitat and water quality.
Ducks Unlimited’s Board of Directors, volunteers, members, and staff are deeply grateful to MBNA for its support of habitat restoration in high-priority areas such as Chesapeake Bay, and its general support of DU’s conservation mission.
Georgia Shoot Raises Dollars for the Ducks
Georgia Ducks Unlimited volunteers gathered on September 21, 2002, in Perry, Georgia, for the first Georgia 410 Dove Shooting Championship. Under the leadership of DU volunteers Bill Teegarden and Dale Hughes, this event raised $195,000 in pledges to benefit Ducks Unlimited and the Chip Allen Wildlife Management Area in Miner County, South Dakota. The 2,600-acre Chip Allen Memorial Wetland is located in the Missouri Coteau, the “best of the best” duck breeding area in the Prairie Pothole Region.
Chip Allen, an Atlanta attorney killed in a 1998 plane crash, was remembered at the dedication of the Chip Allen Wildlife Management Area on October 30, 2001, and at a dinner held in April of that year that raised more than $1.3 million for this project.
Ducks Unlimited would like to recognize a special pledge made in memory of Rankin Smith Sr. and thank the DU major donors who made this latest event a success: Leonard Baxt, Richard Braunstein, George and Diane Calloway, Peter Canfield, James A. Demetry, Billy Gossett Jr., R. Dale Hughes, Will Lankford Jr., Lance Lovell, Jimmy Nygaard, Dudley Ottley Sr., T. Jeff Peters III, Don A. Wade, and Richard A. Wilhelm.