Combating Hunger In Virginia
Our program provides a much-needed source of low-fat protein rich meat. Since we began in 1991, we have processed and distributed over 7.4 million pounds of venison to missions, churches, food pantries, and food banks all across Virginia. This amount of venison has allowed us to provide over 29.6 million quarter pound servings of quality, lean meat to the hungry of Virginia.
David Horne, the founder of our program, knew from his work with the Society of St. Andrew, a nationwide produce salvage program, that meat was the least available commodity for programs serving the poor. Being a hunter, he also knew that hunters had for centuries shared their harvest. Putting these two facts together, he created the Hunters for the Hungry program.
David was an excellent problem solver and worked to ensure that things were done in the most cost-effective way. When it came time to think about getting the donated meat distributed, he knew that there was already a good distribution network in place – the foodbank network and its thousands of member agencies. Providing the venison to these programs at no cost helped their limited budgets to go further and meant that they had a wonderful source of nutritious lean meat and it meant that we did not have to create a costly distribution network. Please see our distribution sheet(under this heading on our website) to see the number of pounds we have distributed each year and some of the programs we work with around the state.
If you know of a program that would benefit from receiving venison from Hunters for the Hungry, please have them contact us. The foodbanks, soup kitchens, church food pantries and other local feeding programs make a huge difference in our communities all across Virginia.
If you are so blessed please consider a financial gift to support our feeding efforts throughout Virginia year round! If you are a hunter and are successful would you also consider donating a deer or multiple deer to allow us to have the venison to provide to feeding programs that desperately need this precious resource?