The Seneca County Health Department’s (SCHD) Creating Healthy Schools and Communities (CHSC) Grant, in partnership with Seneca County Cornell Cooperative Extension (SCCCE), launched the Venison Donation Program in Seneca County during the 2023-2024 hunting season. Finger Lakes Meat Processing, located in Romulus, now participates with the Venison Donation Coalition to accept, process, and package venison that is then distributed to the County’s food pantries through the Food Recovery Program.
Food insecurity is when people can’t access the food they need to live their fullest lives. Data from the 2021 Feeding America Map the Gap report shows that food insecurity affects 12% of Seneca County residents and 17% of Seneca County children. Food pantry data from FoodLink also shows that an increased number of households were served in 2023 compared to 2022, indicating that access to food is still a pressing issue in Seneca County.
Pivital Public Health Partnership conducted a series of cross-sectional surveys across their eight-county network in the Spring of 2023 to assess regional food security and healthy eating trends. Survey responses show that the percent of households reporting food insecurity rose from 26% in 2019 to a staggering 61% in 2023. With this increase we also saw a rise in food pantry utilization, increasing from 14% pre-COVID to 33% in 2022– 2023. Additionally, 50% of food-insecure households report obtaining food from food pantries, indicating that these services are essential in supporting families facing food insecurity.
The Venison Donation Coalition of Western and Central New York started the Pantry Project to get venison to those in need, enabling hunters to donate harvested deer to the Venison Donation Coalition at a participating processor at no cost.
Pantries often struggle with having enough meat products to satisfy the needs of their clients. The introductory year of the program resulted in 328 pounds of lean, ground venison that were processed into 1-pound packages and distributed across the county to all 7 food pantries, benefiting the lives of hundreds of families. Food pantry directors shared their overwhelming gratitude for the individuals who donated their deer this season, stating that the venison was distributed to needy families just as quickly as it was available.
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