by Jim Zumbo - Thursday, November 21, 2024
Above: Wyoming Gov. Mark Gordon and First Lady Jennie Gordon are staunch supporters of the NRA's National Wild Game Meat Donation Month celebration as the governor once again declares November Wild Game Meat Donation Month in Wyoming.
Wyoming Gov. Mark Gordon has declared November Wyoming Game Meat Donation Month for the second consecutive year in honor of hunters’ ongoing wild game meat donations to feed those less fortunate across the Cowboy State. The official proclamation is in step with the NRA’s second consecutive National Wild Game Meat Donation Month celebration that also drew immediate support from Gov. Gordon in 2023 for its efforts to recruit even more hunters to share their wild game harvests and encourage Wyomingites to consider making a financial contribution to the Wyoming Hunger Initiative’s Food from the Field program, launched in cooperation with the Wyoming Game and Fish Department as hunters’ common-sense solution to fighting hunger as we prepare for Thanksgiving and the season of giving.
Some years ago, I was involved in an event where we were serving hot venison meals to homeless people. There were hundreds of them in a long line. One man, dressed in soiled, ill-fitting clothes, politely asked me a question that was so touching I’ll never forget it.
“Mister, could you put a little extra on my plate? I haven’t eaten in three days.” I filled his plate with all the food it could hold and he gave me a warm smile. Then he reached out and shook my hand, whispering, “Thank you.” At that moment I realized that some Americans were truly starving. I suppose I knew that, but I’d just witnessed reality and the wonderful benefits of hunters providing venison to the needy and realized the need for even more hunters to share their harvests.
For this reason, in November 2023, the NRA declared November America’s first-ever National Wild Game Meat Donation Month. Wyoming Gov. Mark Gordon immediately supported the move by declaring November 2023 Wyoming Wild Game Meat Donation Month and issued another proclamation declaring November 2024 Wyoming Wild Game Meat Donation Month as the NRA and its millions of members marked its second consecutive celebration of hunters’ generous wild game meat donations to feed those less fortunate in their communities.
Events where cooked venison is offered still occurs, but nowadays the donations are largely made when hunters take a deer, elk, antelope and even moose to a processor and have it cut up, packaged then given to charitable organizations where it’s then offered to needy people. This is thanks to the movement known as Hunters for the Hungry, launched as a cooperative effort between hunters, state meat inspectors and state wildlife agencies across the country in the early 1990s that drew immediate support from the NRA, which developed and continues to operate a Hunters for the Hungry Information Clearinghouse to put interested individuals in touch with programs in their area. Almost all the venison is ground into burger meat, which is easier to handle and distribute.
Anti-hunters try to accuse us hunters of many things, but one they can’t find fault with is our generosity when it comes to donating venison, and, in most cases, we’re covering all or part of the processing costs. Who can argue that? But we don’t do it to impress anti-hunters. We donate venison because we can—and because it gives us a sense of satisfaction knowing that we’re able to truly help others who aren’t as fortunate as we are.
When Wyoming first became involved in donating meat, I was eager to participate. I had two whitetail doe tags that year, and after my hunts were successful I took a deer to a participating processor. That made me feel good, knowing that a person or family wouldn’t have to go hungry, at least as long as the venison lasted.
On Nov. 1, Wyoming’s Gov. Mark Gordon declared November National Wild Game Meat Donation month. The governor realized the profound benefits initiated by the NRA in regard to venison donations and was so impressed that he wanted to be able to encourage Wyoming hunters to participate in the program.
Governor Gordon and the Wyoming First Lady are hunters and are fully aware of the values of feeding the hungry. In fact, First Lady Jennie Gordon was raised on a ranch where her family lived in poverty, though she says whenever they had extra they shared it with others even less fortunate.
She had nine siblings but never hunted. She said her dad took her brothers hunting although they all were taught how to shoot. Her introduction to hunting began when she attended the annual Wyoming Women’s Antelope Hunt, which was part of the Wyoming Women’s Foundation. Jennie scored on that hunt and from that point on she began hunting in earnest. She attends the women’s hunt every year and in fact is now a mentor to newcomers in hunting.
Although the First Lady understood that some people were in need of food she never realized the gravity of the issue until she met a friend in a grocery store who had two carts full of cereal and fruit. Her friend explained that she was putting it in backpacks for children who ate in school during the week but had little or no food on weekends. It’s a sobering fact that one out of five Wyoming children struggle with hunger issues.
Jennie became an advocate for programs that provided food to hungry people. When her husband was elected Wyoming’s governor she was in a position to create new ways to resolve or at least alleviate the hunger issue.
In 2020 she launched the Food from the Field program that’s part of the Wyoming Hunger Initiative. This not only drew attention to hunger issues statewide but also streamlined game donations to local food pantries throughout the state. Food from the Field is a solution built on the spirit of Wyoming people that had its beginnings in the pioneer days.
“We didn’t invent anything new here,” said First Lady Jennie. “We just made it easier for Wyoming people to do what they’ve always done—to use a bounty of this beautiful state to help their neighbors.”
Now that November’s National Wild Game Meat Donation Month is upon us, thousands of Wyoming hunters will continue to go afield with hopes of not only putting meat in their freezers, but in others as well. I’ll be one of them. If you aren’t, you might consider it as well.