In the 2011 season 573 deer have been donated to this program.
This amounted to 20,749 lbs. of venison to feed the hungry!
Check out HHH on YouTube
HHH on NJ.com
Hunters Helping the Hungry reach million-meal mark, connect the needy with New Jersey venison
Published: Thursday, September 08, 2011, 8:59 AM Updated: Thursday, September 08, 2011, 1:08 PM
By Rick Epstein / Hunterdon County Democrat
Rick EpsteinTrustees of Hunters Helping the Hungry and their liaisons are (from left) NORWESCAP liaison Shannon Williams; trustees Bud Thomas and Mark Charbonneau; state Fish & Wildlife liaison Larry Herrighty; and trustees John Person, Les Giese, Pola Galie and Joe Schultz.New Jersey has lots of hungry people and it also has lots of white-tailed deer — especially in Hunterdon County. That’s the equation that has added up to a million meals provided by Hunters Helping the Hungry since the group was founded in 1997 by two Clinton Township men. A meal is figured at a quarter-pound of venison.
HHH consists of six trustees — founders Lester Giese and Joe Schultz; Mark Charbonneau and John Person, also of Clinton Township; and Pola Galie and Bud Thomas, both of South Jersey.
The trustees spread the word to hunters on how they can donate their kills to the needy, raise money to pay game butchers, and make arrangements with NORWESCAP and Catholic Charities for distribution of the frozen meat all over the state.
Charbonneau says the 2010-11 season “was our finest hour.” Hunters donated 754 deer, which dressed out to 29,138 pounds of venison — “high protein, low-fat meat from a renewable resource.” He says that the word back from the food banks around the state is that “they can’t keep it on the shelves.”
Person, who is one of eight butchers who process the meat at a discounted price ($65 per deer instead of the usual $94), praised the hunters who donate. “They make a commitment,” he said.
Charbonneau explains, “The second you pull the trigger, the work starts.” That involves gutting the deer, carrying the carcass out of the woods, bringing it to a checking station and then to a participating butcher, plus paying $10 toward the processing. “It’s a beautiful thing,” he says.
“Last week I was target practicing with my bow getting ready for the upcoming season,” says Charbonneau. “My 5-year-old daughter, Leyla, stood by my side. … She said to me, ‘You’re practicing so you can help feed people, right Daddy?’ I asked if she’s going to help when she gets older, and she replied, ‘Oh yeah!’”
Not surprisingly, animal-rights activists claim the program’s real purpose is to put a charitable face on a cruel sport.
Charbonneau would tell them they’re thinking too hard. It’s about feeding the hungry.
Schultz says he’d tell them: “We’ve donated one million meals; what have you done to help the community?”
Charbonneau says, “I’m drawn to (anti-hunting) letters to the editor. Outcry from the uneducated public gives me the energy to go even further. It makes us go out and find more support — from national retailers, local hunting and fishing shops — and to organize fundraising events.”
Enough such letters might energize him to start a service that would match property owners with hunters. Person says he’s found that feeding the hungry can be a deal-maker that convinces landowners to allow philanthropic hunters access to their acreage. Charbonneau thinks a service like that could take HHH “to the next level.”
Meanwhile HHH is busy matching venison with hunger.
A TV segment on the nonprofit was shot recently for the “Friends of the NRA” show, which will be aired on the Outdoor Channel in January. Charbonneau says after a visit to Person’s butcher shop, “we went to Catholic Charities in Phillipsburg where a particular family stood by.” The couple had four kids, the wife had lost her job and the husband’s work hours had been cut and they were grateful for the food. He had never seen this end of the HHH process and “at that time my voice cracked,” he says.
With his emotions well in hand, Charbonneau says, “We’re just the medium to put food in a family’s mouths; you can’t dispute that agenda.”
© 2011 NJ.com. All rights reserved.
Link to original post here - http://www.nj.com/hunterdon-county-democrat/index.ssf/2011/09/hunters_helping_the_hungry_rea.html
Garden State Outdoor Sportsmen’s Show Supports Hunters Helping the Hungry
The 2012 Garden State Outdoor Sportsmen’s Show featuring the New Jersey Division of Fish and Wildlife’s Garden State Deer Classic is slated for January 12 – 15 at the New Jersey Convention and Exposition Center in Edison, NJ and promises to be the best ever. Continuing on the success of last year’s program, the newly refurbished Deer Classic and Division of Fish and Wildlife display will be a focal point for the show.
This year the Show is pleased to provide two very good reasons to purchase an admission ticket online at http://gsoss.ticketleap.com/garden-state-outdoor-sportsmens-show/t/HHH12/. Online ticket purchasers are being offered a 1 year subscription to a choice of Field & Stream, Caribbean Travel & Life, Outdoor Life or Popular Science magazine and for every ticket sold online, the Show is donating $1.00 to New Jersey’s Hunters Helping the Hungry (HHH).
For additional information on the Show please visit http://www.gsoss.com/. Purchase tickets online at http://gsoss.ticketleap.com/garden-state-outdoor-sportsmens-show/t/HHH12/ .
Save on your Electric Bill and support HHH
START SAVING on your Electric Bill today by switching to Viridian Energy!!! You will save approximately 10% on your electric bill and Viridian will pay $2 per month / per meter to Hunters Helping the Hungry.
It’s a WIN/WIN opportunity! Your monthly bill and all service issues will still come from your current electric company. It’s FREE to switch, FREE to cancel at any time AND IT’S A GREEN PRODUCT which helps the environment! Sign up today!
You can sign up by telephone (residential or commercial accounts) or on-line (residential only). Either way have your current electric bill handy. By making the change in to Viridian in December, 2010 you’ll receive an additional 10% off your first bill with Viridian and HHH will receive an extra boost too. Please don’t let this note get lost on “the pile” do it now!
1. On-Line: go to www.viridian.com/HHH. Make sure you put in the “/HHH”
2. Click on the green leaf in the right hand corner that says “Become a customer”
3. Follow the 3 steps
• Step 1 – Have your electric bill handy and go to Utilities and Service Rates and type in your zip code. Then select your utility company, select account class (residential), select rate plan (Everyday Green or Pure Green) and click Proceed.
• Step 2 – Type in your name, address, Customer Number (this in NOT your account number), etc as shown on your electric bill and click Proceed.
• Step 3 – Type in telephone, E-mail and E-signature and hit Submit. By Telephone: call Viridian at (866)-663-2508 to sign up. Please advise Viridian that you are with Hunters Helping the Hungry (Associate ID number 10963).
Contact Debbie with any questions at cmmc2@FindSolutionsOnline.com or 908-735-4438 x 101.
Thank you for your support.
Hunters Helping the Hungry to be Featured on CNN
New Jersey’s own Hunters Helping the Hungry organization will be one of the groups featured on an upcoming CNN one-hour special entitled Giving in Focus: 12 Days of Goodness.
Click this image to view the video
The series is being produced by CNN writers and photojournalists who are looking at the creative and traditional ways people are giving of their time, their resources and their love. The goal is to highlight acts of generosity that can be found not only at the holidays, but throughout the year. According to Les Giese, co-founder of Hunters Helping the Hungry, “This is a wonderful opportunity to spread the news about how our group provides thousands of pounds of high protein venison to feed New Jersey’s hungry families.” Since the Hunters Helping the Hungry program began in 1997, it has donated over 219,000 pounds of venison, providing approximately 876,000 servings to feed hungry people in the community.
Produced by CNN’s award winning team of photojournalists, the In Focus series explores the stories beyond the headlines, bringing to light the voices of those affected by the multifaceted issues covered by CNN. In Focus draws on the power of visual storytelling and natural sound packages to bring a new perspective to CNN’s coverage of the most important issues of the day. The series’ unique production style, in which one photojournalist writes, shoots, and edits their own local story, not only gives photojournalists an outlet to display their talent, it provides CNN with original, compelling, and cost-effective material that can be used across the network and many platforms to enhance their coverage of major news events.
Giving in Focus: 12 Days of Goodness will be hosted by Tom Foreman and airs at 1:00 p.m. on Christmas Day and 3:00 pm ET on December 26th on CNN.
Visit CNN’s website for the show at http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/2009/giving.in.focus/index.html
Hunters Helping the Hungry are in desperate need for funds!!
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Only 6 weeks into the current deer hunting seasons; HHH has already processed over 8,200 pounds of venison! For the entire deer season in September, 2009 through February 2010; HHH processed only 15,000 pounds.
We are running out of money to pay the butchers. Hungry families served by over 400 food pantries, kitchens, church organization and other generous organizations want venison. Venison is low fat and low cholesterol and, of course, high in protein which makes venison a very valuable food product and healthy alternative for distribution in the food bank system.
Hunters participate in the program by donating deer through an approved butcher to the NORWESCAP (Phillipsburg, NJ) or Ocean-Monmouth Food Banks or Food Bank of South Jersey. Processing fees are paid to the butcher by HHH from a fund consisting of donations and grants. Approved butchers are inspected by the State of New Jersey Health Department. Hunters not only spend time hunting and money for licenses and permits, but they also donate $10 to $65 of the professional meat processing fee when they drop a deer off for processing.
HHH is a non-profit 501-c3 organization. A small group of volunteers sit on the board of HHH and receive no compensation for their efforts. All administrative duties are supplied by the volunteer board members. Butcher processing fees are also discounted from normal retail fees by the approved butchers. Everyone who is a part of HHH helps through their donations, volunteerism and generosity.
Donations to Hunters Helping the Hungry, Inc. can be mailed to HHH, P.O. Box 587, Lebanon, New Jersey 08833 or through Paypal.
DONATE ONLINE VIA PAYPAL!
Support Hunters Helping the Hungry Through FFA
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The NJDEP Division of Fish and Wildlife would like to inform the public of an effort by the Phillipsburg High School FFA Chapter to receive a grant which will benefit the state Hunters Helping the Hungry (HHH) program. The goal of the chapter is to use the grant money to improve their butchering facilities for HHH and to begin raising and processing livestock to give to the local food bank.
FFA Chapter President Brittney Smith nominated the school’s Agriculture Program for a $50,000 or $20,000 grant from the Clorox Grants for Schools program. Online voting by the public will determine the winner of the grant.
Earlier this week the grant proposal was in 5th place overall out of 1482 schools. However, the proposal was in FIRST PLACE in the “LEARN” category. A win would mean $20,000 for the FFA program.
Voting is conducted daily now through November 1st. Those interested can vote (once each day is allowed) by following the directions below:
Go to: http://www.powerabrightfuture.com/
Login: On the top right of the home screen, enter your email address.
Information: When you first register, you need to enter your name and birth date (Must be 18 or older for your vote to count!) This only needs to be completed once.
Visit the Nominee Gallery: Click on this tab on the right side of the screen after logging in.
Search: In the search box type in ‘Phillipsburg FFA Chapter’.
Vote: After completing the search, the Phillipsburg Chapter will appear. Click on the
photo and click VOTE.
Remember: You can Vote Once a Day from October 5th Until November 1st!
$2,500 NRA grant helps Hunterdon deer hunters provide venison to the hungry
Published: Monday, July 26, 2010, 5:05 PM Updated: Monday, July 26, 2010, 5:08 PM
Hunterdon County Democrat Hunterdon County Democrat
Hunters Helping the Hungry has received a $2,500 grant from the NRA Foundation to assist with the cost of butchering donated venison that will be given to New Jersey food banks.
According to Les Giese of Clinton Township, co-founder of Hunters Helping the Hungry, “This grant allows us to continue providing thousands of pounds of high protein venison to New Jersey’s hungry families.” Since the Hunters Helping the Hungry program began, it has donated over 234,000 pounds of venison, providing approximately 936,000 servings to feed hungry people in the community.
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Targeting Hunger: Hunters donate venison for distribution at local food pantry
Mike Aversa, co-founder of Hunters Helping the Hungry, hunts deer in Hunterdon County. Deer meat provided by Hunters Helping the Hungry is distributed to charitable organizations throughout northern New Jersey, including the Catholic Charities Food Pantry in Phillipsburg. — Lauren Moore photo
By Lauren Moore
Editorial Assistant
Despite what Bambi might have you believe, hunters are not the enemy.
Local hunters are utilizing their sport to give back to the less fortunate through Hunters Helping the Hungry, an organization that provides venison, or deer meat, to a local food bank to be distributed to low-income families in the area.
Hunters Helping the Hungry was founded in 1997 by Les Giese, Mike Aversa and Joe Schultz with two goals in mind: combating the overpopulation of deer in the area while providing the less fortunate with a healthy source of nutrients.
Schultz, a member of Immaculate Conception Parish, Annandale, said he recognized a need while helping less fortunate families through church groups.
“I could see that needy families could utilize the protein [in venison]. We have the available resources, so why not utilize them and help the community?” he said.
So far, Schultz donated two deer this season. He has been hunting for more than 40 years, and has been “from Saskatchewan to Africa, and everywhere in between.” When hunting abroad, Schultz donates all of the meat he hunts to the locals in need.
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