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Farmers and Hunters Feeding the Hungry Seeks Support

“For I was hungry and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty and ye gave me drink…. Verily I say unto you, inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.”            (Matthew 25:35, 40)

CSRA Farmers and Hunters Feeding the Hungry (FHFH) is a new non-profit organization in Aiken County whose mission is to fight human hunger and deer overpopulation by facilitating the contribution of deer meat (“venison”) to needy people. In South Carolina, the child poverty rate is 17%, or nearly 1 in 5 children. The food insecurity rate in the state is 13.5%. Deer overpopulation is a lesser known but growing problem across the U.S. Overabundant deer can have negative impacts on plant and animal communities, crop production, and ornamental plantings. Numbers of deer-vehicle accidents, which can result in extensive property damage, injury, and even death, also increase with deer population size.

Red meat is a commodity that food banks desperately need but are chronically low on. Yet hunters today are faced with the opportunity to harvest more deer than they can use themselves. Similarly, farmers are faced with growing crop depredation problems and need to remove more deer than they can use. FHFH provides a means to transform these deer into venison, a low-fat, nutritious, and healthy food source, which is then distributed by Golden Harvest Food Bank (www.goldenharvest.org) to various local feeding programs that serve the poor. In so doing, the program gives hunters and farmers worthwhile reason to harvest more deer than they might have otherwise, thus aiding in deer population control.

Although hunters and farmers donate the deer, the meat must still be butchered and processed. FHFH must raise funds to cover these processing costs. Our goal is to raise sufficient funds to cover the processing of at least 50 deer to contribute to Golden Harvest during 2005. As the average deer provides approximately 50-60 pounds of meat (about 200 individual meals), this would result in 2,500-3,000 pounds of venison, or 10,000-12,000 meals. As the processing cost per deer is approximately $50-$60, we must raise at least $3000!

To support Farmers and Hunters Feeding the Hungry, please make checks payable to CSRA FHFH and send to the church office. For additional information about the program, please visit www.fhfh.org or contact:

For more information on hunger and poverty in the CSRA and nationally, visit: www.goldenharvest.org

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