Frank Simpson processes deer for Farmers and Hunters Feeding The Hungry out of his deer-processing business in Young America on Nov. 24, 2020. Kristie Simpson gets plastic wrap ready as Braxton Larke balls ground venison to be wrapped. Staff photo by Tim Bath
Frank Simpson processes deer for Farmers and Hunters Feeding The Hungry out of his deer-processing business in Young America on Nov. 24, 2020. Kristie Simpson gets plastic wrap ready as Braxton Larke balls ground venison to be wrapped. Staff photo by Tim Bath
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When Ken Worman bagged his first deer of the season nine years ago, he didn’t hang it on his wall as a trophy or fill his freezer full of venison.

Instead, he donated it to the new outreach he helped start the same year.

That outreach was a local chapter of Farmers and Hunters Feeding the Hungry. The national nonprofit was founded in 1997 in Virginia to provide food to those in need.

The concept behind the outreach is simple. Hunters donate their deer, and the outreach donates the money to local meat processors to turn it into high-protein venison. That meat then goes out to food pantries, homeless shelters and other nonprofits.

For the last nine years, the local chapter has donated venison to the Kokomo Rescue Mission and Grace Apostolic Church, which hands it out to local residents during the holiday season. The meat also goes to nonprofits in Cass and Carroll counties.

Worman said in that time, local hunters have donated enough deer to provide around 20,000 pounds of venison to those in need.

And for the last six years, all that meat has been processed by Simpson Deer Processing in Young America.

On Tuesday morning, owner Frank Simpson was busy inside his shop, along with a large crew of workers, skinning and processing deer both for his business and the outreach. He said just that morning, the Kokomo Rescue Mission had picked up around 160 pounds of venison that came from four donated deer.

“It’s a good deal, I think, especially the fact that’s it staying right here in the area,” Simpson said.

In fact, that’s the main reason he agreed to take on the extra work for the outreach. At first, Simpson said, he didn’t want to participate because he thought the meat would be shipped out of state or to a big-city food bank. But when he found out the venison would stay right in his own county, he was all in.

Worman, a 70-year-old Cass County resident, said that’s also one of the main reasons he’s led the local chapter for nearly a decade. Not only does the meat stay local, hunters can actually pick the exact outreach or ministry to which they want their venison to go.

“To me, that’s pretty special,” he said. “You donate a deer and know that it stays local and you’re directly helping your neighbor.”

Now, donating a deer to the local chapter has become a tradition for some hunters.

Tasha Larke, a 16-year employee at Simpson Deer Processing who checks in the donated carcasses, said one family of hunters gives nearly all the deer they kill to the outreach. She said many times, the donors are kids who bagged their first doe or buck and decide to help someone in need rather than keep it as a trophy.

“I love that,” Larke said. “I think it’s a great idea, and it’s a good deal. It feeds a lot of people.”

Worman said he also knows lots of hunters who keep their first kill of the season, but always make sure to bag another one just to give to the local chapter.

“They’ll go out and look for that big trophy deer they can put on their wall and then fill up their freezer, but then they’ll head out again to get that deer to give to us,” he said.

And that venison is needed more than many people realize, Worman said. At food banks and shelters, the hardest and most expensive item to keep in stock is meat. Most nonprofits never have enough.

“They always have all kinds of canned goods and cookies and all that, but it’s meat that they want,” Worman said. “For some people, giving them some good meat to eat is about like you walking down the sidewalk and finding a $50 bill. It doesn’t happen every day, and it’s something special.”

Pam Givens, chief development officer at the Kokomo Rescue Mission, said getting the venison is always helpful, but this year it’s more needed than ever. That’s because the ministry didn’t have a cow donated from the Howard County 4-H Fair, which provided hundreds of pounds of beef to serve to residents.

“Meat always costs us the most, and it’s the hardest to get,” she said. “So the deer really makes a difference, and we’re very thankful for it.”

But the amount of venison the outreach provides this year could be way down. Worman said they have plenty of donated deer, but monetary donations to the local chapter have dropped by about 60% due to the coronavirus pandemic.

He said during a normal year, they usually have enough funding to process around 50 deer. This year, they currently only have enough money to pay for about 20, and that money has already nearly run out.

Worman and Simpson said they both will do what they have to do to ensure every donated deer ends up at a local food pantry or shelter, but they asked anyone who can to donate money to help defray the costs. Worman said it costs about $80 to process a deer.

“It’s been a tough year for everybody, but the last thing I want to do is tell Frank we can’t take any more deer donations,” he said. “We don’t want to do that, but we’ll try to find a way to make it happen somehow.”

Worman said, over the last nine years, the outreach has become a win-win for the community. Hunters get to hunt, and nonprofits get high-quality venison to feed those in need.

He said in that time, he’s heard a lot of stories from hunters about how they came by their deer. But in the end, what means the most is seeing a child or family eating a nutritious, protein-filled meal they never would have had without the local chapter of Farmers and Hunters Feeding the Hungry.

“Hearing hunting stories about how they got their deer are nice, but I really like the food stories,” Worman said. “I’m still more impacted by the person who got to eat the deer rather than the hunter who killed it.”
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