BANGOR, Pa. — When more than 200 pounds of ground venison were donated to the Slater Family Network last year, Patti Damour wondered if the clients at the borough food pantry would like it.
“We have families from all different cultures and backgrounds that use the pantry, so we were kind of curious to see, because it was our first year, how well it would be received,” said Damour, the network’s executive director. “It was definitely well received and we got very positive feedback.
“I think that a lot of our clients liked it better than the ground beef that we get from the state, because it's leaner, it's not as fatty.”
The donations were facilitated through Hunters Sharing the Harvest, Pennsylvania’s venison donation program. A nonprofit that has since 1991 built a network of deer processors and food pantries across the state, officials said the goal is twofold — to help to feed those residents most in need, but also help to effectively manage the state’s deer population.
Statewide deer rifle season begins Saturday.
The Lehigh Valley is one of the most recent regions to participate.
Last year, Frable’s Deer Processing in Slatington took in 12 deer, with about 500 pounds of venison donated, said Randy Ferguson, executive director of Hunters Sharing the Harvest. Hillside Smokehouse in Mount Bethel processed nine deer, about 250 pounds of venison.
“Both of those processors have told me that they're hearing a lot more from hunters this year that have heard now that they're in the program,” Ferguson said. “So, I think we're seeing a nice increase coming in both of those counties now that the words kind of out that there's an outlet in both of those counties now.”
The meat from Frable’s was donated to the Northern Lehigh Food Bank, while Hillside’s was given to the Slater Family Network Foundation which is based in Bangor.
Neither processor returned a request for comment from LehighValleyNews.com.
Using the American Heart Association’s 3-ounce recommendation for an average serving of red meat, the network can calculate how many meals hunters provided.
“That 750 pounds of venison provided just shy of 4,000 servings, at the food bank or soup kitchen level, of venison in those communities,” Ferguson said. “That's where you can start to really kind of see the impact and how it's feeding people.”
Food insecurity in the Lehigh Valley, Pennsylvania
In the Lehigh Valley,10.7% of residents are food insecure, up from 7.8% before the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the United Way of the Greater Lehigh Valley, citing Feeding America’s 2021 report. About 15%, or one in six, children across the region don’t know where their next meal will come from.
“Food pantries help food insecure families and individuals access healthy food, reduce hunger and help supplement income levels,” according to the agency. “In a 2021 survey on the effects of COVID on Pennsylvanians, 44% of respondents with households living paycheck-to-paycheck report utilizing food banks or pantries.”
Barbara Scheirer, director of the Northern Lehigh Food Bank, said the venison donations are appreciated as the region’s need continues to grow.
“For the month of October, we served 190 households, which came out to 505 people,” Scheirer said. “Our numbers are increasing every month.”
Food insecurity isn’t unique to the Valley — it’s a pressing issue across the commonwealth.
According to Feeding America’s 2021 Map the Meal Gap, 1.2 million Pennsylvania residents are food insecure, a statewide rate of 9.4%.
Over the past three decades of operation, Hunters Sharing the Harvest has worked to close the hunger gap, providing nearly 2 million pounds of venison to pantries across the state.
The nutritional value of venison outperforms other meats in leanness, lower fat content and overall calories, according to PennState Extension.
“Venison is high in essential amino acids and in addition, a rich source of thiamine, riboflavin, niacin, iron and zinc,” according to researchers. “Venison meat is a perfect choice of protein for those who suffer from cardiovascular disease and are searching for low cholesterol and saturated fat protein choices.”
Deer harvesting as service
An overabundance of deer has helped drive donations, Ferguson said.
“The Game Commission is doing a good job of communicating the need for hunters to fill tags in order to be able to manage the deer herd, and, at the same time, hunters are wanting as many days of field as they can get,” he explained, citing the availability of antlerless tags.
This season was the first time in decades there were no pink envelopes for hunters seeking antlerless tags after the state Board of Game Commissioners in April voted to discontinue the mail-in application process for doe tags, as well as move up the sale to the fourth Monday in June, the first day of license sales.
Hunters described the first day of sales as a “mad dash,” with 166,074 general licenses and 164,666 antlerless licenses sold.
“If I know that there's this outlet, that opportunity for me to donate deer that I harvest, now I have more of an interest in going in and taking advantage of those tags going and spending more days out in the woods, harvesting more deer and being able to preform a social service at the same time,” Ferguson said.
Last season, hunters harvested an estimated 422,960 white-tailed deer, according to the Game Commission, with the statewide buck harvest estimated at 164,190 and the antlerless harvest at 258,770.
Hunters who wish to donate can find a participating processor and drop off their harvest. After filing out a donation receipt with contact information, the processor takes over to prepare the meat and deliver it to the food pantry.
“At that point, that's really all there is to it from the hunter standpoint,” Ferguson said, adding that processors are reimbursed by the nonprofit for their work.
There’s about 100 participating processors throughout the state, he said.
“We're slowly but surely filling those gaps,” he said. “We're desperately trying to find the processors and making sure they know how our program works so that we can get them on board, but we do have those gaps in the map around the state.
“When we get these little wins, like with Lehigh and Northampton, we hope to build off of that, hopefully find another processor or two in each of those counties just so that we can kind of geographically better and more convenient for folks.”
