Combat wounded veterans trip to "God's grocery store"

Hunters organize event for wounded Army warriors
AGRI News
Jeannine Otto, Field Editor
Friday, October 25, 2013

MCLEAN, Ill. — Hunting to feed their family and friends from “God’s grocery store” is part of it. So is enjoying the great outdoors and the breathtaking scenery that the timber tracts and open grasslands of central Illinois have to offer.

So is matching wits and skill against wild creatures whose very instincts are designed for eluding them.

But the main reason that hunters such as Tom Huffington and Matt Graden hunt deer, quail and pheasants can be found sitting on the front porch of the hunting lodge on the land owned by the Sugar Grove Foundation, which operates and owns the Sugar Grove Nature Center and the land surrounding it.

“I’ve killed enough critters in my life that by now more than half of why I hunt is who I spend time doing that with. The actual time spent with family and friends, who you deal with, is more than half of why I hunt,” said Graden, who works for the Illinois Department of Natural Resources.

“It’s the camaraderie,” said Tom Huffington, who has hunted since he was in his early teens.

It was through their sons hunting that Graden and Huffington got to know each other and became friends. They and a covey of their hunting buddies and volunteers have turned their sights from hunting themselves to creating a very special hunting and outdoor experience for six wounded U.S. Army veterans from Fort Campbell and Fort Knox in Kentucky.

Huffington thought up the idea of offering to bring wounded military veterans to the wildlife-rich timbers and grasslands of central Illinois in early 2013. He saw a show on the Outdoor Channel in which veterans were taken on a hunting trip.

“We’ve talked about doing that before, so this year we sat down and we came up with a plan,” he said.
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