Charlie Medici is taking aim at childhood blood cancers. Medici, a 1978 graduate of Highland High School and avid sportsman, is the founder of Da Hunt for the Cure, which works to raise cancer research funds through organizing sponsored sporting events including hunts and fishing derbies. The idea came to Medici in 2005, when his nephew, Peter Manos, was diagnosed with lymphoma. Today, Manos, 17, is cancer-free and the captain of the Pelham Memorial High School football team -- and Medici has found his new passion.

“My passion is to do take the things I love to do and use them to unite people and raise awareness of childhood blood cancers. I enjoy organizing these events for a great cause,” said Medici.

Medici founded Reel to Fish for the Cure in Tennessee; in its fourth year, it raised $28,000 to benefit The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. The first Da Hunt for the Cure was a North Carolina quail hunt held in 2008.

On Friday, Oct. 15, Medici hosted his first New York State Da Hunt for the Cure event: a First Annual Sporting Clay Shooting Event at Mid-Hudson Sporting Clays. Approximately 50 people participated in the day-long outdoor event on North Ohioville Road in New Paltz.

“I wanted to bring back something to the place where I grew up,” said Medici.

The shoot, for participants of all abilities, raised $25,000 through corporate sponsorship and individual contributions. Proceeds from the event will benefit The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, Westchester/Hudson Valley Chapter, in honor of the 2010 Light the Night Westchester Walk. Based in White Plains, New York, The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society is the world’s largest voluntary health organization dedicated to funding blood cancer research, education and patient services.

“Charlie is one of our most incredible volunteers. We’re grateful that he, as an outdoorsman, took a love of sport and used it for the benefit of blood cancer patients and their families. We’re here today because of him. It’s fun and it’s civilized,” said Dennis Chillemi, Executive Director of the Westchester/Hudson Valley Chapter of The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.

Chillemi and fellow participants were outfitted with shotguns, safety goggles, earplugs and, if desired, safety instructors to guide them between numbered, fully automated shooting stations. After breakfast came morning practice, then lunch, shoot-for-score and, finally, an awards raffle.

“This is the first time I shot a gun. It’s for the cause. It’s fun. I would bring my kids next time,” said Manny Pappas of I.B.G. Construction in Manhattan.

Sporting clays -- which differs from trap and skeet shooting -- requires marksmen to aim at clay pigeons thrown at a variety of trajectories, angles, speeds, elevations and distances from multiple locations. The practice is championed by the Fédération Internationale de Tir aux Armes Sportives de Chasse (FITASC). Mid-Hudson Sporting Clays is the only FITASC-certified sporting ground in New York State.

For more information about Da Hunt for the Cure, visit http://www.dahuntforthecure.com.