MidwayUSA Renews Support for SCI and Conservation
Safari Club International 08.13.13
Safari Club International and long-time SCI supporter MidwayUSA have announced the signing of a corporate sponsorship through 2015.
MidwayUSA is a privately held American retailer and wholesaler of various hunting and gun-related products. The company is headquartered in Columbia, Missouri, and markets both online and through mail order catalogs. First incorporated in 1977 under the name of Ely Arms, Inc. — the name Ely comes from the village of Ely, Missouri, the general location where Larry Potterfield’s ancestors settled in the mid-19th century – the name was changed in 1979 to Midway Arms, Inc. In June 1998, the MidwayUSA name came into existence. The company has been under the continuous ownership and management of the Potterfield family from the beginning. Larry and Brenda Potterfield established the MidwayUSA Foundation, a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit charitable organization in 2007. The Potterfields began the Foundation as a result of their passion and interest in education for shooting, hunting, firearms safety and outdoor skills. Over the years they have donated millions of dollars to support shooting and hunting.
“The Potterfields and the entire Midway USA family are instrumental in helping to further SCI’s mission of protecting hunting. Their dedication to providing high quality hunting equipment to hunters around the world, and their continuing partnership with SCI, will benefit hunting for future generations,” stated Craig Kauffman, SCI President.
“We’re proud to partner with great conservation organizations such as SCI,” said MidwayUSA Founder and CEO Larry Potterfield. “Our Customers want us to support our industry, and we do that in part by working with groups like SCI that have a clear vision for the future of Hunting.”
The corporate sponsorship agreement includes the establishment of MidwayUSA as a Corporate Sponsor of the SCI Convention to be held February 5-8, 2014 in Las Vegas, NV, and the Official Sponsor of the Saturday Dinner and Auction.
More information on MidwayUSA is available at www.midwayusa.com, or you can find them on Facebook (www.facebook.com/OfficialMidwayUSA), or follow them on Twitter (www.twitter.com/midwayusa).
Protecting hunters’ rights and promoting wildlife conservation, SCI’s two areas of focus, historically has been the interest of hundreds of individuals long before SCI was established. But how did SCI as an organization begin?
Forty years ago, there were many safari clubs across the country made up of local, unaffiliated groups of hunters. One such was Safari Club of Los Angeles, which was formed in April 1971 by forty-seven individuals. In early 1972, an out-of-towner from a similar club in Chicago attended one of the monthly Wednesday night meetings, and it was decided that the L.A. club should attempt to combine with the one in Chicago to make it an affiliated chapter. The founder of Safari Club of Los Angeles, C.J. McElroy, went to the Windy City and instituted the new chapter.
Eleven months after the formation of Safari Club of Los Angeles, on March 9, 1972, the name was changed officially to Safari Club International. SCI continued to reach out to other independent safari clubs throughout the United States in an effort to combine them into a single overall organization.
Today, interest in SCI’s two primary missions has grown a worldwide network. Subsequent involvement and promotion of these missions is rooted in each of our 55,000 members, supported through each of our 190 membership chapters found across the globe, and put into action by government representatives and personnel both nationally and internationally.
In this way, we can encourage an appreciation for nature and wildlife so that conservation efforts remain strong, while also fighting to protect our rich hunting heritage. Big changes can be achieved through the endeavors of many who are united in a mission – the mission of Safari Club International.
