D.U. dinner raises thousands for waterfowl

The Eastern Sussex Chapter of Ducks Unlimited held its 43rd Annual Dinner and Auction Friday, Dec. 3, at the Convention Center in Rehoboth Beach.

The event drew a crowd of about 230 who helped raise thousands of dollars for waterfowl habitat in the U.S., Canada and Mexico.

Every $250 raised at Ducks Unlimited events preserves another acre of waterfowl habitat. Delaware is the winter home to hundreds of thousands of ducks and geese so Ducks Unlimited efforts have a particular value here.

The preserved habitat, of course, benefits all sorts of other wildlife in addition to waterfowl.

Dick Keck, one of the charter members of the Eastern Sussex Chapter of Ducks Unlimited, carves and paints decorative decoys each year to be auctioned off at the dinner. This year the high bidder received choice of a drake wood duck or black duck.
“I remember the first years of the dinner, at Flem Lynch’s place on the highway, next to the liquor store. Al Collier and Milt Cooper were the energy behind the chapter then,” said Keck.

In succeeding years the dinner and auction were held at Kenny Simpler’s Avenue Restaurant in Rehoboth Beach – the cigar years – and then it moved for many years to the Baycenter in Dewey Beach. “Then the younger guys started taking over and the event has continued successfully through the years,” said Keck.

When Dick Keck stood to offer convocation before dinner, he noted that this is the first year since the Eastern Sussex Chapter of Ducks Unlimited dinners started in 1967 that charter member Milt Cooper hasn’t attended. Milt, in his mid-90s, is living now at the veterans’ home in Milford.

Some of the committee members who helped make this year’s event a success include Chapter Chairman Curtis Wright, John Starr and Past Chairman Rusty Pride. In the dinner’s 43 years, the Eastern Sussex chapter has been among the nation’s top producers with millions of dollars raised for the cause.

A number of younger waterfowlers were on hand for this year’s dinner including Robert Dorman, Sean Kane, Barratt Cullen and Will Emmert. “We’re here to support conservation and waterfowl,” said Cullen. “And it’s good to come each year and see so many friends and family getting together for a good cause.”