Adam Scepaniak 02.16.23
Is there anybody who likes to go hungry? Obviously not. After all, we need food just to stay alive. With millions of families struggling to make ends meet financially, there are unfortunately many people in the United States who go hungry each and every day or who are not able to eat a balanced meal. The good news is, that as a hunter, you can help those who are fighting hunger and not financially well off in your area. Did you know that for 2018 alone, it is estimated that deer hunters provided over 50,000 pounds of venison to the less fortunate in America which is equivalent to roughly 200,000 meals?
Just an average sized deer alone can provide enough meat to last for over two hundred meals which will go a long way to help feed a lot of people in need with quality meat in your community. With that in mind, here are the top ways that you can give back to the hungry as a hunter.
Fighting Hunger – Give Meat To Those You Know Personally
The simplest way we can be fighting hunter is to have a deer or game animal butchered by ourselves, and then give the meat directly to those you know. Obviously, you can give the meat to anyone you want to, but you want to particularly give it to those who you know (or at least suspect) are not particularly well off and are in need of food. Keep in mind that you don’t have to give up all of the meat if you don’t want to. You spent the time/energy to go hunting and shoot the animal in the first place. So, by all means keep at least some of the meat for yourself and your own family. Nonetheless, there’s something really special about taking action to give the meat to those you know who are in need. It will undoubtedly be one of the most generous things that you can do.
Fighting Hunger – Join A Local Hunter’s “Give Back” Program
A basic “hunter give back” program will work something like this:
- You’ll take your recently harvested deer or game animal to a processor in town that has been approved by the program in your community.
- You’ll likely pay a small tax deductible donation in order to have the deer registered and tracked by the people who run the program.
- The program coordinators will then have the deer processed and butchered with the bulk of the meat being ground down into lean burger before it is packaged and frozen.
- Next, a representative from one of the community’s food banks should arrive at the butcher’s shop to pick up the meat.
- Then, deliver it to a provider who will distribute it out to families or people in need.
Most of the time the meat will specifically be delivered to the less fortunate through churches and other religious institutions, missions, shelters, Salvation Army facilities, and soup kitchens. The meat processors should then be reimbursed by the program for their services and the use of their facilities. The funds for this reimbursement are usually raised through public donations from the public as well as through corporate sponsors. As a result of these kinds of programs, those who are hungry or financially less fortunate will be provided with high quality red meat for free.
Fighting Hunger – Give The Meat To Your Local Schools
Among the millions of people who go hungry in America each year are students. There should be programs in your community that enable you to give wild game meat such as deer and other game animals to your schools as well. Sometimes these programs are referred to as either “Free and Reduced Meals” or “Backpack Programs.” Oftentimes, these programs can provide food to the parents of students rather than directly to the schools themselves.
Fighting Hunger – Go Through The NRA’s “Hunters For The Hungry” Initiative
Every year the National Rifle Association (NRA) conducts the “Hunters For The Hungry” initiative which supplies hundreds of thousands of free meals to the needy and less fortunate throughout the United States. The NRA does this by working with various state programs and affiliates in order to give away the venison from hunters to the needy through soup kitchens, food banks, and homeless shelters.
As a hunter, there are a myriad of ways that you can give back to the hungry and those in need including through each of the above ways that we have just covered. Did you know that over eight million hunters a year give away meat (most of it venison) to those in need in their local communities? That comes out to roughly 2.1 million pounds of meat a year. By taking part in this endeavor and contributing just a percentage of the meat from the wild game that you shoot this year, you will go a long way to potentially helping out dozens if not hundreds of hungry people in need. As always, let us know all of your thoughts in the Comments below! We always appreciate your feedback.
