LITTLE ROCK — Donations to Arkansas Hunters Feeding the Hungry from hunting and fishing license buyers officially topped the $1 million mark, thanks to more than $18,800 dollars collected in December.
Donations, often gathered just a dollar or two at a time, are collected at checkout as an option when anyone purchases a license, magazine subscription or other product through the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission’s online license system.
“We worked with the AGFC and state legislators back in 2012 to make this great donation opportunity possible,” Ronnie Ritter, AHFH president, said. “It started with a simple $1 donation option, but has bloomed into an option to donate $5, $10 or more. The Arkansas hunting and fishing community has responded with amazing generosity.”
AHFH receives 100 percent of the donations submitted through the AGFC’s licensing system, providing about one-third of the non-profit organization’s annual budget. The money pays for the gas and time needed to deliver ground venison to food banks statewide and to reimburse processors for labor and packaging costs to process donated deer.
“We really need two things to provide this much-needed food to needy Arkansans: deer and the money to process them,” Ritter said. “As we grow in donated deer, our need to pay the processors increases. Participating processors really do everything they can to keep the cost low, but they are businesses, and they have to pay their employees. I’m sure many of them are taking a loss to help out.”
Fresh meat is the most requested, yet rarest, item at food banks nationwide. While canned goods are staples of most food drives, the high cost and refrigeration needs of protein often leave a gap in a family’s diet.
Through AHFH, hunters in Arkansas step up to fill that need. The organization provides close to 100,000 pounds of venison annually, which equals 400,000 servings of meat to needy Arkansans.
| “It’s really amazing to see the generosity of the hunting community, not just in donated money, but in donated deer,” Ritter said. “Hunters can tell our participating processors that they want so many pounds to go to AHFH, and many will donate their entire deer.”Jeremy Brown, Deer Management Assistance Program coordinator for the AGFC, says the donations offer hunters the opportunity to properly manage the deer herd in their area as well. “Some hunters want to keep hunting after they have a deer or two in the freezer, but they don’t want the meat to go to waste,” Brown said. “At the same time, many hunting clubs need to harvest so many deer per acre to balance their herd with the available habitat. By donating those deer, hunters get to keep hunting, help their local habitat and herd, and they help fight food insecurity in Arkansas.”Learn more about Arkansas Hunters Feeding the Hungry and which processors collect deer for the organization at www.arkansashunters.org. Visit www.agfc.com/licenses to purchase your hunting license and make a donation. |
