A competitive shooting event this Saturday and Sunday at the Hampden Rifle and Pistol Club is expected to raise more than $75,000 for the Travis Mills Foundation.
The Trident Armory Standby to Fly Benefit Match, organized by two Hampden residents, is sanctioned by the U.S. Practical Shooting Association (USPSA) and serves as the Maine State Championship for the association.
Co-founders Zach Greenier and Chris Austin have dedicated proceeds from the match every year to a different Maine-based charity that serves veterans of the U.S. armed forces, and this year they selected the Travis Mills Foundation out of nearly a dozen applicants.
“Obviously Travis Mills stands out not only for his heroism and how he served our country, but how he is able to get veterans and their families from across the country to the foundation’s retreat at Belgrade Lakes,” said Greenier.
“He’s able to give them a lot of their independence back and have various activities that are not only for the veteran that’s been wounded but also, more importantly, to be able to get them back to doing activities with their family,” he said.
Mills, a retired U.S. Army Staff Sergeant, created the Travis Mills Foundation after returning from a tour in Afghanistan that cost him both legs and portions of his arms. He sustained the massive injuries in 2012 after an improvised explosive device hit his 82nd Airborne unit.
After a lengthy recovery at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, Mills decided to help other wounded veterans recover from their combat injuries, seen and unseen. He’s become a serial entrepreneur and a sought after motivational speaker with a presentation that blends raw stand up comedy with triumph over adversity.
His foundation supports a retreat in central Maine where veterans can participate in long-term programs that help them overcome service-connected disabilities and strengthen their families.
The Stand by to Fly Initiative is a family friendly event that includes a silent auction, Maine-grown BBQ, and ice cream.
But it’s also an event that has put Maine on the map in the world of American competitive shooting.
“This is a top ten match in the country,” said Austin.
“We probably had seven or so national champions here last year,” he said. “They’ve come from just everywhere, all around New England. We have competitors from Alaska, California, Texas, Florida, every corner of the US.”
The competition itself involves shooting handguns with iron sights, handguns with optics, and pistol caliber carbines on sometimes elaborate courses.
Because of the success of the event, the Hampden Rifle and Pistol Club has been able to add outdoor shooting bays and greatly grow their capacity.
Businesses from across the state have joined the effort, donating goods for the raffle, time, food, and cash.
The Hampden VFW will be serving lunch, including meats from Maple Lane Farms and Bear’s One Stop smoked on grills from Downeast Traeger.
Firearms enthusiasts will have an opportunity to bid in the silent auction on a range of items from Atlas Gunworks, Sig, Glock, and Mark 7, but there are plenty of items for the less firearm inclined who nonetheless want to support a worthy cause.
Five years ago, the pair of Hampden residents decided to organize their first match in Maine, and they pulled together the inaugural Stand by to Fly event in less than a month.
That first year, they raised $7,000 for Windy Warrior Project.
In subsequent years, Mark Darrigo joined the Trident team and the fundraising effort, and the event has gone on to become not only a staple USPSA event, but also one with a much greater charitable impact.
Their more recent events have raised between $50,000 and $75,000 for veterans charities.
Pulling together the fundraiser got a little more complicated a few years ago when PayPal and its related payments app Venmo choked Greenier’s ability to use the platforms due to his association with shooting sports and firearms.
PayPal’s terms and conditions prohibit using the platform to sell or buy guns, but that wasn’t how Greenier was using them.
Instead, he used the payment apps to sell charity raffle tickets which give purchasers a chance to win a firearm from an authorized firearms dealer.
That was close enough for PayPal to a violation of their rules, though, and Greenier has been blacklisted from the app for life.
Financial censorship notwithstanding, the Stand by to Fly Initiative continues every year to raise tens of thousands of dollars for charities in Maine that serve veterans and their families.
Those who are interested in attending the event or supporting the cause can learn more at StandByToFly.org.
The event will take place at the Hampden Rifle and Pistol Club, 286 Meadow Road, Hampden, ME 04444.
