Hunting for the Hungry
If you’re a hunter, Black Friday, the Friday after Thanksgiving can’t hold a candle to the next day, Buck Fever Saturday.
As hunters prepare for their favorite time of year, one Maryland organization takes advantage of the frenzy to put food on the table of hungry families. Farmers and Hunters Feeding the Hungry helps hunters donate their harvested deer to area food banks.
“The No. 1 need of all food banks is high quality meat, and we provide just that,” says David McMullen of Edgewater, the local chapter’s regional administrator. “Farmers and Hunters Feeding the Hungry makes it possible for compassionate hunters to use their God-given skills as food providers to help their fellow man in need.”
Farmers and Hunters Feeding the Hungry provides the funding to pay the entire meat-processing fee, at no charge to the hunters.
Raising funds for those fees is an annual challenge for the organization.
“Our butchers are limited each year to the amount of money we can raise,” McMullen told me. “The more money we can raise, the more deer we can process and the more meat we give to the food banks. It’s that simple, and it’s a win-win for everyone.”
With processing running about $75 per deer, the Lothian Ruritan Club’s spring donation from its annual spaghetti dinner —$1,550 — brought 21 deer to the table.
The South County Assistance Network food bank received donations of over 1,000 pounds of ground deer meat last year from Farmers and Hunters Feeding the Hungry, reports Ruritan and SCAN member Frank Gouin.
The club’s donation is just one way Farmers and Hunters helps pay for the processing fees.
Some area butchers offer discounted rates. One processor, Ray Hitchcock of Severn processed over 200 pounds of meat free of charge.
“That’s compassion at work,” says McMullen.
Farmers and Hunters also provide ground deer meat to other food banks in Anne Arundel County and to D.C. area soup kitchens.
“We are a Christian ministry, but we do not discriminate on where the meat goes. If it is needed, we will send it,” McMullen says.
One deer, McMullen says, can provide 200 meals as 50 pounds of meat is divided into quarter-pound servings in spaghetti or burgers.
“The food banks tell us that people come in asking ‘Do you have venison today?’” McMullen says.
“We are so thankful for the hunters who donate,” says Janet Bruce of SCAN. “We think it’s a great way to support the local community.”
Since 1997, hunters and farmers have donated over 18 million meals nationally turning their bounty into a blessing for a hungry neighbor.
Eight Maryland chapters plus the 38 state donation centers are listed on the Farmers and Hunters Feeding the Hungry website and Facebook page.
“Maryland donates over twice as much deer meat than any other state in the U.S.,” McMullen adds, with pride.
Hunters field dress and transport legally tagged deer to a participating processor. The meat is ground, packaged in two-pound containers and frozen for distribution. To make a donation, call ahead to the butcher or processor to make sure they are able to accept it.
Hunters also help reduce Maryland’s abundant deer population, saving lives and damage to vehicles and crops. Nearly 20,000 deer have already been harvested during bow and muzzle-loading hunting season. Firearms season opens November 26.