About 30 teams met Saturday at the Dorchester Hunting Preserve for the ninth annual Dorchester Fun Clay Shoot.
The annual shoot benefits the American Diabetes Association as part of its annual Kiss-A-Pig Campaign raising funds to find a cure for the disease.
Since its inception the shoot has brought in more than $400,000 for the cause and while economic hardships have hurt fundraising, organizer and Team Liberty campaign manager Claude Dryden said the shoot was another success.
“It was a smaller crowd than we’ve had in the last few years, but still a bigger crowd than what we started off with,” Dryden said. “I thought it was a great success, it went smooth and everyone had a real good time.”
Dryden said finding a cure for diabetes is close to his heart.
“Diabetes has a special place in my heart … My family has diabetes. My wife’s grandmother had diabetes … I have three children that have diabetes … You know they call it the silent killer. People have diabetes and they don’t know they are sick,” he said. “Diabetes affects your life. It attacks all your organs, attacks your eyesight. It will shorten your life and if you are an insulin-dependent diabetic … you have a lot of complications from it.”
He said the shoot also is a community event where many folks, some who haven’t seen each other in years, can reconnect, challenge each other clay shooting, have a nice meal and win prizes and drawings.
“Everybody had a good time. They always do,” Dryden said. “Everybody was in such great sprits, and it was just fun and not to mention it is for a worthy cause.”
The annual Kiss-A-Pig campaign pits local communities against each other to see who can raise the most funds. The winning candidate gets the right to kiss a pig at the annual gala, this year set for May 19.
Team Liberty has won the right to kiss the pig twice, once in 2008 when candidate Danny Creasy raised a whopping $160,000 and again last year when Joel Osteen’s campaign raised $83,000.
Dryden is looking to propel this year’s candidate, Derek Sills, to the pig’s snout. The ADA has called the clay shoot its largest single fundraiser that benefits the cause.
The final tally shoot is not complete, but estimates are $33,000. “We have made so much money every year for diabetes but times are harder right now,” Dryden said. “But we appreciate all the people who did come out.”
He said sponsors and the volunteers made it possible.
Shoot winners
Men
Top shooter — Keith Yeoumans
2nd place — Jimbo Tuten
3rd place — Daniel Wunderlich
4th place — Gary Gibbs
Top woman — Wendy Clark
Top junior — Root Steverson
Teams
1st place — Sanitary Plumbing
2nd place — MacAljon
3rd place — Dryden Enterprises
4th place — Thunderbolt Guns
Lewis Class teams
1st place — Team Fuller
2nd place — Coastal Industrial Co.
3rd place — Acceptance Auto Sales
4th place — Yates Astro Termite & Pest Control
Sponsors
Platinum: Coastal Industrial Co., Dryden Enterprises, Harris Ace Hardware, Jones, Osteen and Jones, Sanitary Plumbing
Gold: Hinesville Ford, Lance’s Concrete, Ray’s Roofing, State Farm — Melissa Carter Ray
Silver: Bryant, Drury and Griffis, CenturyLink, Clifton Forestry & Appraisal, Daniel Brick, Hinesville Carpet Co., McDonald’s — Gary Dodd, Metro Insurance Services, Mike Reed Chevrolet, Ophthalmology Associates, Paul Krebs Construction, Resource & Land Consultants, Thrift Auto, Wiregrass Pro Lawncare & Design, Yates Astro Termite & Pest Control