RIVER VALLEY and OZARK AREA — Arkansas Hunters Feeding the Hungry is a successful program that has provided approximately 1 million meals to the state’s most needy residents, according to the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission website.
The program has been in place in Arkansas since 2000. The success of the program depends upon the generosity of hunters to donate venison and other wild game, cooperation from meat processors throughout the state, support from local food distribution organizations and the financial contributions of businesses and residents.
Hunters can donate one deer or a portion of a deer from this season and help Arkansas Hunters Feeding the Hungry so that the state’s less fortunate can have healthy meals. There are about 40 meat processors statewide who accept and process venison and other wild game from hunters for the program, according to the website.
Donating wild game is a way to make sure the meat is not wasted. Hunters sometimes let their harvested game sit in the freezer until it gets ruined by freezer burn or goes bad for other reasons, the website article continued, and providing a deer or a portion of a deer to a needy family is “a way to make a successful trip afield even better.”