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Published: October 05, 2009 12:00 am print this story

More than 230 attend venison banquet

By M.K. Moynahan
Contributing Writer

More than 230 people attended the ninth annual Venison Donation Banquet Saturday night at the Holiday Inn in Oneonta. The event raised more than $18,000 for the Conservation Alliance of N.Y. (CANY) Venison Donation Program of Otsego and Delaware counties, a not-for-profit organization that supplies ground venison and ground beef to food pantries in the two counties.

The money raised will enable the organization to provide more than 31,000 meals next year for needy families in the area.

CANY is a worthy cause, said Karin Householder, who attended the banquet along with her husband, Jim Householder. The couple, one of the event's 63 sponsors, own Night Pasture Horse Farm in Stamford.

They said they mark their calendar every year to attend the benefit.

"We've gone away from other organizations and stayed with this,'' Jim Householder said. "This truly helps people in our area."

According to Ron Martini, an event committee member, the community's response and support is "awesome."

"The outpouring of support is incredible. We're awed by the whole thing," he said.

This year's event raised $4,000 more than the previous year. Last year, hunters donated 700 pounds of venison and purchased more than 3,000 pounds of ground beef.

Since it started in 2000, the group has donated more than 32,000 pounds of meat to the food banks in Delaware and Otsego counties and provided more than 128,000 meals for the needy in the two counties.

Mount Vision resident Brad Beers, a return attendee, said he couldn't think of a better way to spend the evening than to bring three generations of Beers men to the benefit.

"It's a really good thing as far as a benefit is concerned and everyone has a great time,'' he said. Attending with Beers were his two sons, Jason and Bryan, as well as his 9-year-old grandson Cody, all of whom are sportsmen.

Sponsors included Annutto's Farm Stand, Boyle Excavating, Inc., Country Club Automotive Group, Dundee Brook Co., Frank Mann Media Co., Losie's Gun Shop, Night Pasture Horse Farm and West End Archery.

The donors include Steven's Hardware, Sonny's Pizzeria, Dairy Queen and Bath and Body Works.

This year's Super Donors are Goodyear Lake Polar Bear Club, Northern Eagle Beverages Inc. and Wal-Mart Super Center.

The banquet is organized by five committee members: Chairman Al Bowers, John Brooks, Jim Losie, Rich Gravelin and Ron Martini. Bowers said because the local food banks are pressed for storage and the group delivers large quantities of meat, there are two separate deliveries throughout the year.

The group works with local butchers to process venison donated by area hunters, and the remaining money is spent on ground beef. The group seeks bids annually from local butchers for the meat and processing.

"We have asked for bids from three different companies, and the lowest bid will be the one chosen,'' Bowers said.

Last year, Steiner Packing Company of Otego provided the ground beef and Don Toombs of Lawrence processed the venison.

The group does not limit its efforts to the annual event. Last year, it donated a freezer to a local food bank and $1,000 to a local family for medical expenses for their child who has a rare spinal disorder. In 2006, the group donated $2,500 to each county to help assist flood victims.

NEW YORK’S VENISON DONATION PROGRAM

New York ’s “Venison Donation Coalition” has received national notoriety and serves as a model for such organizations in other states. It was started by a Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) biologist, Greg Fuerst, from the Bath area and his wife, who is a social worker.  They tied together the state's need to thin the deer herd with the state's need to help feed low-income families. They approached the RC&D about it, then brought in the DEC, Farm Bureau, Conservation organizations, and other interested parties.

The Venison Donation Coalition has evolved into a statewide not-for-profit coalition administered by the Finger Lakes RC&D Council. The RC&D Council handles the distribution of much of the processed meat to approved food banks and outlets. It coordinates with: other RC&D councils across the state; the DEC, which handles the licensing, regulations involving the carcasses, meat and pays the salary of one of the program's administrators who is a DEC biologist; the State Association of Food Banks; the NYS Farm Bureau; several state sportsmen's organizations, including the NYS Conservation Council; and three members at large that help raise funds and coordinate the project.  DEC has a matching funds program through the General Fund and the RC&D Councils get state and federal grants that help with funding.

In 2003, the Conservation Alliance of New York (CANY) joined together with two existing venison donation organizations, formerly part of a national venison donation program called “Project Venison” and administered by “Buckmasters” of Alabama. This was done in order to provide more help to our less fortunate and neediest citizens by using all of the funds raised in New York for New Yorkers. The two organizations became known as the “CANY Venison Donation Program”. 

One of those organizations is the “Venison Donation Program of Broome, Tioga, and Chenango Counties” with Dave Henderson as chairman.  The other is the “Venison Donation Program of Otsego/ Delaware Counties” with Al Bowers in charge. These groups have taken their working knowledge of donating venison and incorporated it into the CANY framework.  Dave's group has worked with the RC&D Council over the last four years. Al’s group from Otsego/Delaware has been working for three years and has its own meat processing and distribution program. The Broome/Tioga/Chenango program has raised enough money to donate 41, 600 meals in their area while the Otsego/Delaware program has donated about 29,800 meals.  The two groups' donations combined have raised and donated, with the help from sportsmen and women, enough money to feed  71,400 meals to our neighbors in need. 

The CANY program works this way. There is a fund-raising dinner each year in for the Broome/Tioga/Chenango program and another dinner for the Otsego/Delaware program. Dave runs some additional fund-raisers. Hunters and farmers take deer carcasses to approved processors (110 in 50 counties) who butcher, grind, package, and freeze the meat for pickup by a member of the program.  The Coalition or the Otsego/Delaware program pays the processors an agreed to price per pound and any expense incurred in distributing the meat.

The statewide Venison Donation Coalition paid for the processing and distribution of 108,600 pounds last year, making their 4-year total equal 244,300 pounds of venison.  Figuring that a “quarter pounder” is a full meal, that's 977,200 meals.    

The Coalition and CANY have 501(c)3 status. The RC&D Council handles the bookwork, legwork, etc. for the Coalition, and CANY handles it for the Broome/Chenango/Tioga and Delaware/Otsego programs.

Copyright © Conservation Alliance of New York, Inc. 2008, 2009