Hunters for the Hungry program helps feed Campbell County

Campbell Outdoor Recreation Association’s (CORA) 12^th year is in operation

By Charlotte Underwood

JACKSBORO, TN (WLAF)- The Hunters for the Hungry program provides thousands of meals a year to local Campbell Countians in need. With deer season in full swing, it’s a great time to donate a deer or processing fees to help out!

Locally, the program is organized and sponsored through the Campbell Outdoor Recreation Association (CORA) and is starting its 12^th year in operation.

The Tennessee Hunters for the Hungry program allows hunters to donate their harvested venison to participating certified wild game processors across the state. The Tennessee Wildlife Federation (TWF) covers the cost of processing, and the meat is then distributed to local food banks, soup kitchens, and shelters at no cost. As an “affiliate of the TWF, CORA, raises funds locally to cover the cost of meat processing.”

“We started this program in 2011 and so far, we have distributed 53,891 pounds of venison in 11 years,” said CORA President Terry Lewis. Those numbers will grow greatly once this deer season wraps up.

That nearly 54,000 pounds of meat equates to 215,564 servings of venison.

“That’s about 20,000 meals a year for local Campbell County citizens in need,” according to Lewis.

“We raise money to pay for the meat processing, it’s a program I always felt passionate about; one in seven Tennesseans face hunger and one in six children in Tennessee face hunger; we can all help with that … this program allows hunters the opportunity to give back individually just by donating a deer,” Lewis said.

State-wide, the TWF has been part of the Hunters for the Hungry program for around 25 years and has “served over 9.9 million meals to Tennesseans.”

Lewis helped start the Hunters for the Hungry program here locally because he “knew it could help the people in the county” and that there “was a definite need.”

“I have been a TWF board member for over 22 years and I knew about the program and “thought it was a very worthwhile program to get CORA involved with, so, I got us hooked up with the TWF and we started a chapter 11 years ago,” Lewis said.

Tommy Overton with CORA has been handling the Hunters for the Hungry program for the past ten years by collecting the meet from the processors and storing it in one of his nine freezers until it is distributed out to those in need in Campbell County.

According to Overton, he stores and distributes 5,500 to 6,500 pounds of meat each year and “that feeds a lot of hungry folks.”

The local Hunters for the Hungry program distribute meat year-round and has “already sent right at 1,000 pounds of meat to flood victims.”

“We distribute through Open Arms, churches, food kitchens and more – If there is a group that has a worthy need, let one of us know; we don’t want anyone to go hungry,” Overton said.

According to Lewis, the program provides deer meat to the Campbell County Children’s Center, Open Arms Ministry and many local churches to be handed out through their food banks and food pantries. Some of the meat also goes to the National Wild Turkey Federation (NWTF) Food boxes that the local chapter of the Pine Mountain Longbeards does at Christmastime. According to Lewis, CORA partners with the NWTF on this project each year.

If anyone would like to donate an entire deer, take it to Adams Taxidermy/Processing and tell them you are dropping off a deer for the Hunters for the Hungry program – the processing fees are taken care of through CORA. Adams Taxidermy also participates in the “pound and pack” program as well, so each deer that is taken to Adams Taxidermy, has one pound of meat packed up and donated to the Hunters for the Hungry Program.

“He does two to three thousand deer a year, so there’s two or three thousand pounds of meat that go into the program right there,” Lewis said. So, even if you don’t want to donate your whole deer to the program, just take it to be processed at Adams and you can automatically donate that pound of meat to the Hunters for the Hungry to feed fellow Campbell Countians.

“A pound of meat isn’t going to hurt anybody, but it certainly helps these children that are facing hunger… when one in six children in Tennessee face hunger, we have got to do what we can to fix that,” Lewis said.

Adams Taxidermy is located at 102 Shipe Road, in Powell and can be reached by calling 865.945.3553.

“We appreciate anything that people can do to help us out,” Lewis said.

If you would like to donate funds to cover the cost of processing, you can donate funds to CORA which will transfer the funds right into the processing fees. Checks should be made out to CORA. Checks can be sent to CORA, at 3527 West Emory Road, Powell. Or you can give checks to Lewis or to CORA’s Bill Stanley or bring monetary donations to CORA meetings. CORA’s next meeting is at the Campbell County Courthouse on Tuesday, November 26^th at 7 pm. (WLAF NEWS PUBLISHED-11/12/2024-6AM)