Wildlife officer connects kids and vets to the outdoors
A Macon County man was presented the 2015 Governor’s Award for Excellence, the highest honor a state employee can receive, for providing hunting opportunities to children with special needs and disabled veterans.
Kenneth Ashe, a master officer with the N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission, started planning hunting trips for children with special needs in 2012, enlisting a diverse array of partners to help with the hunts and securing donations for equipment to make the hunts more accessible. In 2013 and 2014, Ashe expanded his efforts to include disabled veterans.
The children and veterans he helped would never had a chance to experience hunting “if it were not for Officer Ashe’s efforts,” according to Jon Evans, chief of the Commission’s Law Enforcement Division.
Ashe was one of 13 employees to receive the award this year.
