SEMO FCA fundraiser is sure to be 'a great catch' for a lot of people

Southeast Missouri State football coach Tom Matukewicz displays a trout he caught while camping and fishing on the Rio Grande River among the San Juan Mountains in Southwestern Colorado last summer. A fishing trip with Matukewicz is among the many really neat activities being auctioned off in a fundraiser for the SEMO FCA chapter this week.

Photo courtesy of Tom Matukewicz

Have you ever wanted to learn how to camp and fish with an “elite tent camper,” who also serves as the head football coach at Southeast Missouri State (Tom Matukewicz)?

Or perhaps train with one of the best college quarterbacks in the country (SEMO senior-to-be Paxton DeLaurent)?

Or maybe golfing on one of the top courses anywhere in the country is more your thing? Or eating at a fabulous restaurant or staying in a luxurious hotel?

All or any of those things, plus more, are among the 40-plus things that people can bid on as part of the First Annual “Above the Game” auction being put on by the Southeast Missouri chapter of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes.

“This is an online auction,” SEMO FCA Executive Director Darrin Scott explained, “as our end-of-the-year fundraiser for FCA.”

Details for the various events and activities can be found at the organization's website www.semofca.org, and whether football, basketball, baseball, softball, golf, sleeping, eating, or in the case of a fishing and camping excursion with Matukewicz will absolutely prove to be, enlightening, is your thing, this has to be one of the cooler auctions that anyone will come across anytime soon.

“I’m an average football coach,” Matukewicz once said, “but I’m an elite tent camper.”

Former Jackson educator/coach already attacking his next chapter in life

Tom Davis

As he cut through a sizzling ribeye steak at Jeremiah's Fine Dining and Spirits in downtown Sikeston on Tuesday evening, young Sikeston resident Noah Mason proudly wore his Southeast Missouri Fellowship of Christian Athletes hat for all to see. Call it "Divine marketing," if you will...

He also has been known to boast about his fishing skills, which the lucky bidder will be taught.

The various items and events appeal to a wide range of ages and genders and will be conducted at varying times of the year.

The funds raised will help SEMO FCA conduct camps throughout the year, as well as purchase materials to hand out to participants at the various seminars and camps.

“It will help cover,” Scott explained, “all of the resources that will help with our ministry.”

Interested bidders can click on the link on the SEMO FCA website or its Facebook page, and it will take them to the auction site where they can get the information on super cool things to bid on, the amounts needed to bid, and it will even alert you if you get outbid so that you can rebid and try to win the event and/or item.

Scott is wrapping up his first year with the organization, and like his longtime basketball coaching career proved to be at area high schools, SEMO FCA has enjoyed a successful campaign.

“We had about 5,000 kids and adults come to our Fields of Faith (events),” Scott said of just one of the activities that SEMO FCA conducts throughout the year. “It has gone really well. I think God is moving through people’s lives. I have gotten to see so many people being engaged and just really helping our ministry and the impact of it.

“It’s been amazing.”

The auction will open on Thursday at 6 a.m. and run online through Saturday at 7 p.m.