Hunger Prevention Problems
ZANESVILLE, Ohio – Hunger is a challenge that confronts many communities all across America.
And the Farmers and Hunters Feeding the Hungry is a national organization composed of outdoorsmen who want to see the meat harvested from hunters be put to good use.
FHFH of Morgan and Muskingum County Coordinator Bob Daniels explained how they work with local farmers who have been granted state issued nuisance permits to harvest deer.
“We’re lucky because the people we work with would like to donate the deer,” Daniels said. “So when they have people that harvest the deer and they take the deer to one of our processors and then they go ahead and process it and we of course have to pay the processor for that deer. But we get deer, you know, not just during the deer season, we get deer year-round.”
FHFH Assistant Coordinator Jared Reynolds revealed the unique circumstances that Muskingum County faces as well as the impact it has on the local food banks.
“So we have a really good but yet a really bad problem here in Muskingum County,” Reynolds said. “The good problem is that we have an abundance of deer meat. We’re finding out more hunters are not harvesting and keeping the meat themselves but rather donating, which is a good thing. The bad thing is we’re running out of money and the financial strain it’s putting on our organization to provide the cost of the food processors is what we’re running into and what we need help with.”
The J.W. and M.H. Straker Charitable Foundation has supplied the FHFH and the Muskingum County Hunger Network with $10,000 to operate the venison program but this year the hunger demand has outpaced the fiscal supply.
Muskingum County Hunger Network Secretary Keely Warden emphasized several values that the venison program offers.
“Well if you ask any pantry, a volunteer or a hot-meal volunteer, the biggest problem we have in our agencies is finding protein,” Warden said. “And this venison that comes into us is the best protein you could ever get. And literally, everybody that… every family that walks out, we want them to walk out with some type of protein. So when this venison is donated to the food pantries and the hot-meal program, it’s precious. It’s something that we could not go out and afford to buy.”
Anyone interested in participating in, or contributing to the Farmers and Hunters Feeding the Hungry organization can visit their website and donations can be made to the Muskingum County Hunger Network.
