Jared Schmeltzer
Reporter
Darts for Vets held their fourth annual dart tournament on November 15-16, supporting the Never Forgotten Honor Flight for the second year. In their two years of donating to the Honor Flight, Darts for Vets has raised enough money to send 15 Merrill veterans on the Honor Flight to visit their memorials in Washington D.C. The City of Merrill still has 42 veterans on the waiting list for the Honor Flight.
This unique dart tournament is one of a kind, being the only dart tournament in north central Wisconsin to raise money for local veterans. Tournament coordinator Chris Cortright was thrilled with this year’s tournament, however hopes to keep growing the tournament.
“The tournament was awesome,” said Cortright. “We raised $6,200 for the Never Forgotten Honor Flight, which is three times what we raised last year and it’s enough to send 12 local vets on the honor flight. I hope to raise about double of what we did this year for next year’s tournament.”
“A huge thank you goes out to Throw Line Drinkery and owner Justin Dennison for hosting and running the tournament,” Cortright added. “They did a great job making everything go smoothly. Also, Karen Piasecki and Lisa Kleinschmidt were instrumental in getting donations this year. Those two went to businesses all over north-central Wisconsin and they are very appreciated. We couldn’t raise that much money without all the people and businesses that donated, so thanks to all of you.”