VOORHEESVILLE — The Voorheesville Rod and Gun Club sends local kids to environmental camp each summer, and plans to raise the funds to cover the cost this year with a breakfast on Sunday, Jan. 24.

The New York State Department of Conservation runs four camps throughout the state, and the Voorheesville gun club traditionally sends two or three students each summer, said member Frank Papa, who organized the breakfast fundraiser. Many of the gun club’s scholarship recipients attend Camp Colby, which serves kids ages 11 to 13, near Saranac Lake.

“We have sent quite a few, over the years,” he told The Enterprise. The camps are open to boys and girls, and the Voorheesville Rod and Gun Club has sponsored both, Papa said.

The DEC also runs camps for older students, ages 14 to 17, at Camp Pack Forest, in Warrensburg, for both age groups at Camp Rushford, in Western New York, and for students ages 11 to 13 at Camp DeBruce, in the southern Catskills.

“We’ve sent many others over the years,” said Richard Barden, of the Voorheesville club. “We sent six last year. This year, we’re hoping to send seven.”

Barden said that student Jacob Shaw has attended three of the camps. Shaw, Noah Martin, and Claire Guyer have also attended more than one; the three became camp counselors last year, Barden said.

“They all ended up going to Camp Colby, first,” he said.

Students at camp learn about diverse habitats, and how human activities affect the environment, while solving challenges, learning environmental concepts, and practicing outdoor skills, according to the DEC website.

For recreation electives when students are not working with biologists or forest rangers, the camps offer classes like hunting, and archery — with shooting reserved for older participants.

A week at camp costs $350.

“If they want to attend, we’ll pay for it,” Papa said. Students from Guilderland or Voorheesville usually apply for the camp scholarships, but children or grandchildren of club members are also welcome, he said.

Papa, a longtime member of the Voorheesville Fire Department, has been a rod and gun club member for nine years, he said. His success with fundraiser breakfasts with the fire department led him to head up the event with the gun club, which has not held a breakfast before, he said.

“This is a new venture for us,” Papa said.

The gun club gives back to the community in ways that are not advertised — the group donates to the local food pantry, to the Hilltowns’ Albany County Sheriff’s office, and to breast cancer research, Papa said.

In addition to providing money for camp, the gun club also offers scholarships to college students enrolled to study environmental conservation, he said.

Papa hopes the breakfast will bring in 150 to 200 people to “fund the kids. That would really help us out quite a bit,” he said.

“We’re sort of out of the way — tucked in the back,” he said of the gun club on Foundry Road. “There is ample parking.”

The breakfast takes place at the Voorheesville Rod and Gun Club, 52 Foundry Rd., Sunday, Jan. 24, from 7 a.m. to noon, and costs $8 for adults, $4 for children ages 6 to 11, and is free for younger children. The menu includes all-you-can-eat eggs cooked to order, French toast, pancakes, sausage, bacon, toast, and a beverage.