Friends Of NRA Announces 2023 Volunteers Of The Year

Volunteers put the “Friends” in Friends of NRA, from rallying people together to support the cause, selling game tickets and event set-up and tear-down. More than 8,000 dedicated volunteers across the nation unite to tackle over 600 events annually.

Thanks to their phenomenal help, Friends of NRA has raised more than $1.1 billion for The NRA Foundation, which supports firearm education and training at the local, state and national levels. “This program succeeds by the unwavering dedication and fearless drive of our volunteers,” said Director of Volunteer Fundraising Sarah Engeset. “They are the faces behind The NRA Foundation and Friends of NRA and work tirelessly to push our mission forward.”

Since 1992, Friends of NRA has held over 25,500 events, reached more than 4.7 million attendees and awarded nearly $473 million in grant funding—contributing to 60,000 NRA Foundation grants.

NRA Field Representatives evaluate volunteers on a number of criteria, including event tickets sold, years of service, leadership and overall impact on the program. Each Field Rep selects one Volunteer of the Year (VOY) for their area, and then their Regional Director determines their Regional Volunteer of the Year from those nominations. The four 2023 Regional Volunteers of the Year have more than 58 years of combined volunteering experience, during which they’ve raised over half of a million dollars for The NRA Foundation in 2023 alone.

The VOY program also recognizes an exceptional Friends of NRA committee each year. Falls of the Ohio Friends of NRA in Indiana yet again topped the charts in 2023 by setting another committee record. It raised more than $311,000 in net income, sold 1,000 banquet tickets, 27 sponsorships and flipped the Wall of Guns 30 times, totaling more than $230,000 for their one event. Since it began in 1999, this committee has raised more than $2.8 million dollars for the Friends of NRA and NRA Foundation.

The 2023 Regional Volunteers of the Year are: Dale Emerick (PA’s 1st Friends of NRA, Eastern Region), Jim Kelley (Itasca County Friends of NRA, Central Region), Melinda Pawelek (Karnes County Area Friends of NRA, Southern Region) and Jeremy Frisk (Sweet Grass Friends of NRA, Western Region).

Visit friendsofnra.org/news/volunteers/ to view more of our 2023 volunteers of the year. A volunteer is highlighted every other week. To help secure American freedoms and shooting sports traditions for generations to come, join in on the fundraising efforts near you. Contact your local Field Rep or attend a local Friends of NRA event.