The Pendleton County Cooperative Extension Office was approached by our local game warden, Scott Horn, wanting to offer the Kentucky Hunters for the Hungry opportunity in our county. FCS & ANR partnered together to establish a Hunters for the Hungry program in Pendleton County. 

An estimated 684,000 people live in poverty in the Commonwealth.

• One in every four Kentucky children is living in poverty. In some counties, as many as 55% of children are living in poverty.
• Kentucky ranks fifth in the nation for the percentage of residents living in poverty at 17%.

The Pendleton County Extension Office and game warden reached out to hunters in our community at the beginning of the 2020 hunting season and we accepted deer throughout the entire season. During the timeframe stated, local hunters harvested the deer and took them to one of two local processing facilities.  Processed meat was stored at the Pendleton County Extension Office until the distribution.  All processed meat was in the form of ground venison.  Our partners for the 2020 deer meat distribution included: Kentucky Hunters for the Hungry, Pendleton County Game Warden, Kentucky Fish and Wildlife, 4-H Shooting sports youth and leaders, two local Processing facilities, (Stacey’s Processing and Lenoxburg Store), Butler Baptist Church, Open Hands, University of Kentucky SNAP program and USDA SNAP.  

Beyond the impact of providing an additional source of protein for over 350 families, the program also brought awareness to the number of families/children living in poverty in our county.  A total of 1,450 pounds of ground venison was distributed to those families. That is about 25 deer that were donated and processed for our program.   

The spokesperson for Neighbor Reaching Neighbor shared:

“We have given over 500 pounds out in our Neighbor Reaching Neighbor program.  Everyone has been very thankful.  Several have indicated it has been their first time eating venison and they appreciated the recipes and have asked for more.  We distribute monthly to those in need in our community and have been able to share with them more than once.  We have reached over 300 families and still have more to distribute.”