My nephew and his wife , Josh and Nicole, recently gave birth to their first son, William. He was born on 4/28/14 and weighed 1 lb 10 oz at only 23 weeks gestation. A full term baby is 39 weeks. William was born in a central IL hospital and transferred to the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) at a Level 1 Trauma center in another central IL hospital within hours after his birth. Ironically, Nicole, had recently become employed as an NNP (neonatal nurse practitioner) at the same hospital. Unfortunately, she has been unable to work since several weeks prior to William’s birth due to numerous medical complications during her pregnancy. The week of 05Jun-10Jun, William was transferred to yet another area hospital and underwent a successful heart repair procedure and after stabilizing, was transferred back to the NICU where he had been. William has endured and overcome many medical challenges during his short time here with us and could be faced with many more going forward. For now, we are thankful for each day we see him progress.

As you can imagine, all of this has put quite a weight on Josh and Nicole, emotionally, physically, and financially. They have a very long road ahead of them, so your help will be greatly appreciated.

With that being said, I have decided to do a fundraiser raffle as well as accept donations from those of you who may not be interested in the raffle items I am offering.

I am offering 3 separate items for the raffle. The winning ticket will get to choose which item they want. The winner will also have the option of giving their choice of the 3 items to anyone they want. The raffle tickets will be $20.00 each and you may purchase as many as you would like.

1st item: A trophy deer hunt at Lick Creek Game Preserve. If you choose this option you will have the choice of a 5 day bow hunt or a 3 day gun hunt. You will be responsible for all tags needed and any travel to and from our location. This hunt will be for the 2015 season. All Illinois DNR rules will be followed. Bow season starts the first week in October 2015 and runs until about mid-January 2016. Gun season starts about mid-November with a 3 day season and a second season starts close to the first week in December. This is usually a 4 day season. We will assist in stand selection and help to and from the stands, as well as help if you harvest a deer.

2nd item: A 30 bird guided pheasant hunt with a meal and bird cleaning for up to 4 hunters. This can take place from late October 2014 thru the end of February 2015.

3rd item: A 2 year family membership with a guest pass to our fishing club. Our fishing club has a 55 acre lake as well as a smaller 5-6 acre lake. We have Blue Gill, Crappie, Channel Catfish and Bass. Our Bass are catch and release. This will start in the spring, March 2015 thru November 1, 2015 and then again in March 2016 thru November 1, 2016 .

To enter for the raffle items, I have made 2 options available to you. You may simply fill out the form below and enclose a check and send it to the address listed under the form. If you choose this option, please make your check payable to myself, Jeff Yergler, and in the memo area be sure to write in, “BABY WILLIAM RAFFLE.” Once your raffle purchase is received, we will record your information and put 1 raffle ticket in the drawing for each $20.00 amount on the check. IF YOU WISH TO SEND A DONATION BY CHECK, PLEASE WRITE, “DONATION BABY WILIAM” IN THE MEMO AREA.

The second way to enter is online through a secure credit card payment area we have setup on this page. If you hit the GIVE button it will take you to a processing center that will allow you to purchase raffle tickets with a credit card. This processing center gives you the option of paying for the processing of the card if you want. That is entirely up to you.

When you are using this site there is an area called the Gift Detail Section where you can leave a message. If you want in the raffle, in the leave a note of incouragment area, type in raffle, and you will then be entered in the drawing. If you are making a donation only, and do not wish to be in the raffle, do not write raffle in the Gift Detail Section. I would then encourage you to write a short note to Josh and Nicole. They will be encouraged to see that so many people care.

Drawing for the winning ticket will be September 10, 2014. We need all raffle ticket purchases delivered to me no later than September 5, 2014. This will ensure that we have time to process everything before the drawing. We will be accepting donations until September 10th. We may extend the donation period but have not decided on that yet. I would encourage everyone who is willing and able, to get involved as early as possible.

And most importantly, in order to reach the largest number of people, we are asking and encouraging each of you to pass this event on to all of your contacts through the many social media outlets that there are. So please, if you can, forward this site to everyone you know and let’s see what happens. If you chose to pass this on please tell your friends and family to go to the web address below.

www.lickcreek.com and hit the “BABY WILLIAM” tab.

Thank you all in advance for your participation in this effort. May God bless you and yours!
Jeff Yergler
Owner, Lick Creek Game Preserve
Cell # 309-645-6157