The Ararat Ruritan Club has become the area drop-off location for Hunters for the Hungry, an organization that processes deer to provide meals for those in need.
According to Hunters organization, it has provided 31.7 million servings since their founding in 1991. With an average deer producing between 36-84, ½ to 1-pound servings, local hunters are encouraged to donate their deer to provide much needed meals.
The program is a great way for hunters who will not eat the meat, or who have filled their freezers to donate extra meat to help feed those in need.
Kevin Smith of the Ararat Ruritan Club, said, “This is something I’ve wanted to do for the last three or four years, but we didn’t have a collection site.” Since there is not a processor in Patrick County, the Ararat club has stepped up to be the drop-off location for the area.
“I talked to Gary Arrington (who is the director of Hunters for the Hungry) down at the national convention in Winston-Salem, and I asked him how do we get a collection site? What do we have to do? What do we need?” said Smith. “And he said, ‘I can just bring you out a cooler.’ And I said, ‘Bring it.’”
The mobile cooler is now at the Ararat Ruritan Club and ready for donations.
The process for hunters is simple. All they need to do is field dress any deer legally taken in Patrick, Grayson or Henry County, contact the Ararat Ruritans and bring it in. They tag the deer and place it in the cooler to be taken to Sizemore Meat Processing in Galax. Hunters for the Hungry will pick up the meat and bring it back to Patrick County for one of the local food banks.
The average cost to process a deer is $60, which is paid for by donations to Hunters for the Hungry. Smith said that donations are a way for non-hunters to help the organization pay for the processing, which will put food on the table for those in need.
Smith expects donations to pick up once muzzleloader season begins in November, saying that there are far more people taking part then than there are in the archery season.
To drop off a deer, hunters can call Kevin Smith at (276) 229-6493. Those wishing to donate to Hunter for the Hungry can go to their website https://h4hungry.org/.
