- News -
“Hunters Sharing the Harvest” was a good idea when the program to distribute ground venison to soup kitchens, food banks and individual families began in 1991.
Over the next 22 years, the program has become even better as more hunters have become involved in donating complete or portions of deer.
For HSH to be the best it can, however, more participation is needed from meat processors and – surprisingly – those who the program is designed to help.
HSH is a venison donation program that also accepts donations of non-perishable food and cash to help with the cost of grinding the venison into burgers and packaging it by meat processors. While John Plowman of the Harrisburg area is the statewide coordinator for the program, it depends on grassroots involvement by county coordinators, who recruit wild-game processors and help with arrangements to get the meat and other goods to the charitable organizations.
Hunters who take a deer to a participating meat processor can donate an entire deer or specify how many pounds are to be donated to HSH. If donating an entire deer, hunters are asked to pay a $15 tax-deductible fee, and HSH will cover the remaining processing fees, or a hunter can cover the entire tax-deductible cost of the processing.
According to Schuylkill County HSH coordinator Jim O’Brien of Minersville, currently Dave Stevenosky of U.E. Butcher Shop, Pottsville, and Mease Meats, Pine Grove, are the processors in the county participating in the program. Organizations or individuals seeking to receive meat donations can contact the butcher shops to make arrangements for pickup, or it can be delivered.
“With the various programs we have in Schuylkill County, it’s surprising how few of them know about ‘Hunters Sharing the Harvest’ and that the meat is available,” O’Brien said. “We’re getting good participation from the hunters, but we could use a few more meat processors throughout the county.
“Last year I was contacted directly by several families that we were able to help with venison donations, but none of the food pantries reached out to us. In a typical hunting year, from early archery through the late archery and flintlock seasons, approximately 100,000 pounds of processed venison is distributed to more than 3,000 charities such as food pantries, missions, homeless shelters, Salvation Army facilities, churches and individual families.
“As proud as we are of the success of the program, we believe we could do even more. For that to happen, we need more processors and more of the charities that qualify for donations to contact us.”
According to Plowman, an average-sized deer will provide enough highly nutritious, low-cholesterol meat for 200 meals. Based on a unique concept developed by Pennsylvania hunting interests, the program’s yearly deer season accomplishments are based on the cooperation of HSH’s volunteer county coordinators and board of directors, legislators, state and local agencies, the Pennsylvania Game Commission and the Pennsylvania Outdoor Writers Association and other outdoors news media.
Many Wildlife Management Units in Pennsylvania offer multiple deer tags, longer seasons and special hunting opportunities that result in extra deer being donated by sportsmen. In WMU 5C, for example, some hunters organize special antlerless hunts with the specific purpose of donating deer to HSH.
“There are 1.4-million families in the state of Pennsylvania in need of assistance, and ‘Hunters Sharing the Harvest’ provides in excess of 750,000 meals annually to help feed the hungry,” Plowman said. “This year, donations of deer are ahead of last year, but we’re always looking for more participation.”
Information on the program can be found on the Web at www.sharedeer.org and by then following the links: About Us, Donate, Processor, County Coordinators, Food Banks and Sponsors. Specific questions can be emailed to info@sharedeer.org or call toll-free at (866) 474-2141.
(Dietz is outdoors editor) Local program facts
Here is the contact information for “Hunters Sharing the Harvest” in Schuylkill County:
Meat processors – Mease Meats, 68 Sawmill Road, Pine Grove, Pa. 17963, (570) 345-2586; U.E. Butcher Shop, 1722 West End Ave., Pottsville, Pa. 17901, (570) 294-2252.
Coordinator – Jim O’Brien, 411 North Delaware Ave., Minersville, Pa. 17954; (570) 544-4640; JObrien@basspro.com. Assistant: Doyle Dietz, 309 Maple Blvd., Orwigsburg, Pa. 17961; (570) 366-1764; yankeegiant@verizon.net.
Published Nov. 10, 2013. Courtesy of the Republican Herald.
