DOVER – During the 2015/16 deer season, Delaware hunters donated 586 deer to DNREC’s Division of Fish & Wildlife’s Sportsmen Against Hunger program. The donations were processed into 16,599 pounds of venison, which will provide more than 72,000 meals for needy Delawareans. Division of Fish & Wildlife staff distributed the frozen ground venison to 34 charitable organizations and food pantries throughout the state.
Venison for the Sportsmen Against Hunger program was processed by eight participating private butchers and the Sussex Community Corrections Center’s (SCCC) butcher shop in Georgetown, which is staffed by offenders who are serving sentences in the SCCC’s Violation of Probation Center and who have been specially trained for the job as part of a job training program. Since the SCCC program began in 2005 through 2014/15 season (figures from last season were unavailable), the facility has processed more than 81,000 pounds of venison donated to the Sportsmen Against Hunger program.
With the number of donated deer down slightly this season from last season’s 604, 2,148 pounds less venison was produced than for the 2015/16 season.
Since the Delaware Sportsmen Against Hunger program was founded in 1992 by a coalition of sporting groups, hunters have donated a total of about 455,079 pounds of venison, providing more than 1.7 million meals to Delawareans in need.
For more information, please visit the Division of Fish & Wildlife’s website at Sportsmen Against Hunger, or call 302-284-4795.
Contact: Joanna Wilson, DNREC Public Affairs, 302-739-9902