By Hunters For The Hungry/Tennessee Wildlife Federation
For more than two decades, Hunters for the Hungry has fed Tennesseans in need by providing hunger relief organizations with venison donated by generous deer hunters.
This season, Tennessee deer hunters answered the call—and then some.
A total of 142,450 pounds of venison was donated, providing Tennessee’s hungriest with more than 563,000 servings of healthy protein.
These numbers represent a near-record year, which is particularly impressive considering the challenges of the year.
“COVID created meat shortages in grocery stores, meaning many deer hunters needed to keep more of their harvest. At the same time, some processors switched to handling livestock as small farms ramped up production,” said Matt Simcox, Hunters for the Hungry manager.
“Our generous hunters and processors worked double time to overcome these hurdles to make sure their fellow Tennesseans were fed, including some who were facing food insecurity for the first time during the pandemic,” said Simcox.
Since 1998, the program has collected and shared more than 8.2 million servings of venison to those in need.
Tennessee Wildlife Federation photo.