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Letter from the Front
(November 2, 2007)
from Carol Bretz, Executive Director
You may have seen this logo previously, but you will be seeing more of it on 4 CARTS busses. The ads were installed at the beginning of October. This project has been very interesting and rewarding for the CAA and the Columbiana County Dept. of Job & Family Services. Both of our agencies operate food pantries and it has been a challenge to provide meat as we must raise the funds for meat. The CAA is able to purchase other food items at a significant discount from the Second Harvest Food Bank in Youngstown. Unfortunately, meat is not often available so we were buying it from local grocers at the full retail price.
Staff from the two agencies discussed the possibility of setting up a deer donation program to make use of a local and renewable natural resource in early 2006. We had some discussions with members of the Columbiana County Federation of Conservation Clubs which turned out to be a wise investment of our time. These hunters, who subsequently agreed to sit on a committee to help us plan the program, suggested we go online and check for existing programs rather then “reinvent the wheel”. So we did and found the website, www.fhfh.org , for Farmers and Hunters Feeding the Hungry. We contacted the Northeast Ohio Chapter and talked with Bryan Renner, the Coordinator to see if we could work together.
After a number of planning meetings with staff from the CAA, CCDJFS, the Federation and the NEO Chapter of FHFH, we were ready to roll the project out for the 2006/07 deer gun hunting season. We identified 4 Ohio Dept. of Agriculture approved meat processors that were willing to work with us: Horst Packing in Columbiana, Gateway Farm & Freezer in Enon Valley, Pennsylvania, Winona Frozen Foods in Winona, and the Leetonia IGA. Our hunting partners from the County Federation of Conservation Clubs were instrumental in getting the word out to other hunters about the program. We began accepting donated deer the week of gun season and on through the end of deer season in February of 2007. We elected not to accept deer during bow season as the weather was still quite warm and posed a possible risk to the quality of the meat.
We expected to have 5-6 deer donated. We were greatly surprised to have 40 deer donated. When the meat was processed there was 1,933 pounds of ground venison. The meat was wrapped in one pound packages and frozen. Each agency has freezers where we stored the meat until it was given to families. As the processors received and processed the deer, they called us and we picked up the meat. We quickly ran out of storage space at the two agencies so Winona Frozen Foods kindly agreed to provide storage lockers for us at no cost. Families were provided with a pamphlet on how to handle the meat safely along with recipes that didn’t require expensive ingredients or fancy equipment. The response from our families was positive. The amount of venison donated lasted through early summer for both agencies. The significance of the donated venison can be illustrated by the cost of the meat purchased in 2005 by both agencies. CCDJFS spent $3,160 on meat for its food pantry in 2005 and the CAA spent $3,188 in the same year.
The CAA provided meat to 245 households comprised of 735 individuals. The County Dept. of Job & Family Services provided meat to 317 households comprised of 837 individuals. In all, a total of 562 households comprised of 1,572 individuals received venison. 44% of the family members were under age 18. The East Liverpool zip code had the most families served at 199 households, with the Salem zip code next at 140. The Lisbon zip code was third with a total of 73 households served. All of this was possible because of the generosity of local hunters who donated deer to feed needy families. We are very grateful for their help.
As this year’s deer gun season approaches we will be soliciting hunters to donate deer again this year. All 4 meat processors have agreed to participate again this season and we hope to have 80 deer donated to our food pantries. Hunting often takes a bad rap by some people. In rural Columbiana County, hunting is part of the culture. The hunters I know are responsible people who love being outdoors and are good sportsmen. For individuals who are squeamish about hunting, consider that the animal is killed in its familiar habitat. A good hunter usually gets the deer on the first shot. This is surely a far better death than being herded from the feedlot where the animal has spent most of its life, along a conveyor belt, in an industrial sized slaughter house, to be killed. This is the fate of most of the cattle and hogs that Americans eat. They don’t get to graze in a pasture or ruminate in the sun.
The Northeast Chapter of FHFH and the two agencies have to raise the money to have the deer processed. It costs about $75 per deer. So far we’ve had two fundraising lunches and another is scheduled here at the CAA on November 8, 2007 from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 P.M. The menu is a loaded baked potato, toss salad, roll and dessert for $5. Carryouts are available by calling 330/424-7221. We’re also raffling off a very nice muzzle loader and a varmint rifle. Tickets are $5 each for both guns or $10 for 3 chances. Tickets can be obtained at the CAA or the County Dept. of Job & Family Services. The winning ticket will be drawn at the Leetonia Deer Expo on December 9 and the winner need not be present. If you don’t hunt but would like to help our program, your tax deductible donation can be mailed to the CAA. Please note on the memo section of the check that the donation is for deer processing.
To conclude, I must emphasize the value of collaboration and partnerships as a means to build a healthy and caring community. The two agencies alone could not have pulled off a successful program as the county’s hunters were not familiar with our agencies or our clients needs. Bringing members of the Federation to the table along with Northeast Ohio Chapter of Farmers and Hunters Feeding the Hungry made the project work. We had a lot of fun, made some new friends, and best of all, helped needy families get through hard times a little easier. Oh yes, and we helped the Ohio Division of Wildlife by reducing the overpopulation of deer in Columbiana County!
Check out May's Letter from the Front
Check out June's Letter from the Front
Check out August's Letter from the Front
Check out September's Letter from the Front