The Tennessee Wildlife Federation (TWF), one of the state's oldest and largest conservation organizations, announced on Wednesday that Tennessee State Senator Mike Bell, Senator Todd Gardenhire (Senate District 10), and Representatives Kevin Brooks (House District 24), John Forgety (House District 23), Dan Howell (House District 22) and Jimmy Matlock (House District 21) have made donations in support of TWF's Hunters for the Hungry program to cover the cost of deer processing in their respective house and senate districts.
In November of 2015, the Federation announced support of the program by Representative Ron Travis (House District 31).
Hunters for the Hungry provides funding to more than 80 wild game processors across 67 Tennessee counties. The processors receive donated venison from hunters during white-tailed deer season, package the lean, organic meat for free or at a reduced rate, and make it available to local food banks and kitchens.
The combined donation from these legislators will be directly applied to pay processing fees, allowing hunters to donate deer at no cost to help feed hungry families in the area. Soup kitchens and missions in these house and senate districts will utilize the venison. The donations will cover the processing of approximately 62 deer, providing more than 10,400 healthy meals to Tennesseans in crisis.
These members hope that by setting this example others will consider making a generous donation of their own so more families and children can receive this much-needed relief. They cite statistics from Feeding America, a national network of food banks, showing that across their districts food insecurity ranges from 13.1 to 16.7 percent of the population (Bradley-15.7%, Hamilton-16.8%, Loudon-13.1%, McMinn-15.8%, Meigs-16.5%, Monroe-16.7%, and Polk-15.1% counties); meaning that those percentages of each county’s population are people who “are without reliable access to a sufficient quantity of affordable nutritious food.”
“The Tennessee Wildlife Federation is feeding a lot of hungry Tennesseans through their Hunters for the Hungry program,” said Senator Bell. “Our local hunger-relief agencies reported that the donated venison arrived at a much-needed time for the holidays. Please join us in fighting hunger in Tennessee by supporting this great program.”
Since 1946, the Tennessee Wildlife Federation has served as champions of the state's Great Outdoors. To learn more about the Federation or Hunters for the Hungry, visit www.tnwf.org.