On Saturday, Sept. 21, Mercy Clinic will hold its 7th Annual Shoot for Mercy event at Defender Outdoors in Fort Worth. Jerry Payne and fellow volunteers established Shoot for Mercy, a sporting clay event to introduce Mercy Clinic, an organization near to his heart, to a new community of potential funders. They were shooting for a great cause.
Mercy Clinic provides free medical, dental and spiritual services to the uninsured in south Fort Worth. The Clinic opened its doors just over a decade ago on a Thursday evening and began serving patients from the surrounding neighborhood. In the past 10 years, the clinic has expanded to offer services four days a week to three zip codes.
Funding from individuals and special events like Shoot for Mercy have allowed Mercy Clinic to serve more than 1,500 patients in the last year, all for free. Volunteers make up a large majority of the Mercy Clinic work force. Doctors, nurses, dentists, dental hygienists, pharmacists, medical technicians and translators all give their time to care for the unserved in their community.
It is a place of warmth and love, which shows in the smiles on the volunteer faces and grins of appreciation from the patients. Patients have scheduled appointments, can have blood work drawn at the onsite lab, see a provider, and leave with their prescription and a follow-up appointment scheduled. Barriers to care have been removed with after-hours clinics and onsite translators.
In the past six years, Shoot for Mercy has raised more than $300,000 to support God’s work at Mercy Clinic. This year Payne and his committee hope to break past fundraising records and raise over $75,000 for the clinic. To date they are over halfway to their goal, but still have sponsorships, teams, and raffle tickets available.
It will be a wonderful day with breakfast and lunch provided. Top teams and individual shooters will receive buckles from Benchmark Buckles. Tickets may be purchased on-site for additional chances at prize items including a Beretta 20-gauge shotgun and an AR-15 rifle.
Do not miss a chance to win a golf cart for all of your outdoor fun. A four-person gasoline powered Club Car Golf Cart is being raffled for $100 a ticket. Purchase tickets at www.MercyClinicGolfCart.com.
To purchase a sponsorship, register a team, or make a donation, go to www.mercyclinicfriends.org/shoot-for-mercy or contact Aly Layman, Executive Director at alylayman@mercy-clinic.org.
