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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Access Food Project Underway
Hundreds of Pike County families will benefit from the generosity of Illinois deer hunters, local businesses and conservation organizations thanks to a new program implemented by the Access Illinois Outdoors program, operated through the Two Rivers Resource Conservation & Development Area. The Access Illinois Outdoors program has increased the public’s outdoor recreational opportunities by facilitating access to private lands since 1994. Through the AIO program, a landowner can be put in touch with prospective customers who wish to provide compensation for access to private land for outdoor recreation, ranging from hunting and fishing to bird watching and photography. Access Illinois Outdoors has recognized another need in addition to matching landowners with landusers. The growing deer population is a concern to everyone in the area, from the farmer suffering from crop degradation to the motorist dodging deer on the roads. To encourage more hunters to take a doe, Access Illinois Outdoors is creating a fund, Access Food, to pay for deer processing costs. “We want to encourage hunters, even if their own freezer is full, to take another antlerless deer and donate it to the program. Many of the non resident hunters would be willing to shoot a doe, if they were not burdened with the processing fee and the distribution of the meat,” said Brenda Middendorf, representative of the Access Illinois Outdoors program. This coincides with another need in the area which is the high volume of traffic at the local food pantries. The Two Rivers Regional Council of Public Officials and Barry Food Pantry together are feeding almost 1200 individuals a month, all of which need meat. Hunters wishing to participate may take their donated deer to either the Butcher Block in Quincy or Kabrick’s in Plainville, IL, both USDA inspected lockers which is a requirement of the local food pantries. Donors should call the lockers before deer delivery to verify processing hours and have their donation approved. The program will run through the various deer hunting seasons, ending January 11. The deer must be tagged before being taken to the processor. An untagged deer carcass will not be accepted. The two pound packages of ground meat will then be delivered to the Barry Food Pantry and the Two Rivers Regional Council of Public Officials food pantry for distribution to needy families. “At this time we only have limited funding for the deer processing fees which are $70 per deer,” said Middendorf. “We hope that other lodges and hunting related businesses are able to contribute and that agriculture related businesses see how helping to control the deer population could actually benefit their customers. All contributions are tax deductible. Every donation will be very much appreciated and will work towards controlling our deer population and feeding hungry people.” Funds from the IDNR “Sportsmen Against Hunger” program cover a portion of the processing costs with donations making up the difference. To date, contributions have been received from the Lodge at Walnut Knob, Whitetails Unlimited, and Pike County Quail Unlimited. To make a donation or for more information, pleases contact the Access Illinois Outdoors office at 1256 C West Washington, P. O. Box 87, Pittsfield, IL, 62363, 217-285-2464 or 1-888-285-2464. For More Information Contact: |
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bmiddendorf@2riversrcd.org with
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