STATE WIDE–If you hunt deer and can spare a few pounds of the meat, you can help your Hoosier neighbors who might be struggling to feed the family. An organization called Hoosiers Feeding the Hungry distributes donated venison by getting it to local agencies that help hungry people.
“One deer, one deer can provide 200 meals for people that are struggling right now,” said Deb Treesh, executive director for Hoosiers Feeding the Hungry, on Indiana Outdoors radio.
She said with the price of meat having gone up due to inflation and some people already struggling because of the COVID pandemic, your donation can go a long way toward helping.
“I really want to encourage everybody this year, if they can, to at least donate a few pounds off of their deer when they take it to the butcher shop,” she said. “If you can, donate a whole deer. Go out and get an extra one. I’ll pay the processing fees on that for you and all that meat will get donated to your community.”
Treesh said donations have been slow, so far.
“With the prices of meat going up so high, I believe strongly that everyone’s keeping their first one for themselves. Hopefully they’ll go out with the weather being so nice, and, it’s a great thing. Just go out there and sit, enjoy nature and grab one more.”
To find out how it works and where the processors are, you can visit Hoosiersfeedingthehungry.org.
“During opening weekend I’d definitely call your processor first because it’s gonna be super busy and you never know if they’re gonna be full or not. Call them first, let them know you have a donated deer. Take it there. Say, I want to donate the whole deer. What they’ll do is they will go ahead and process it into one and two pound packages and give it to the hunger relief agencies,” she said.
Treesh said you don’t have to give a whole deer. Just a few pounds can go a long way.
