Deer hunters are bridging a food insecurity gap through donations
When most people think about the challenges and solutions associated with hunger and lack of nutritious food, their first thought is often community gardening or donating canned goods. Many of us don’t think about sources high in protein like meat? An organization of avid deer hunters in Dorchester County is helping to fill the need for meat through a network of deer processors and hunters.
Pete and Lori Singletary founded Hunters Helping Hands in 2022 after retiring. Knowing they wanted to give back to their community, they found inspiration from many of Pete’s hunting excursions in the Midwest where there are state-funded programs that allow hunters to donate their harvest. Their mission is to provide high-quality, nutritious food to families and individuals in need by focusing on sourcing and distributing venison, and Wholespire is supporting their work with a mini-grant.
Often referred to as deer meat, venison is a valuable source of protein and rich in nutrients, but it’s often scarce in the diets of food-insecure families. Getting your hands on venison can be challenging, unless you know hunters. Thanks to Hunters Helping Hands, food-insecure families in the Lowcountry have a way to get one of the most valued sources of protein in their diets.
The organization’s process involves a network of partners, mainly meat processors to prepare the venison and spread the word to hunters about donating their harvest, and food banks, food ministries, and other agencies and nonprofits to distribute the venison to families in need. It’s a process that started out slowly but has grown quickly over two years.
“The first year we picked up 32 deer. So far this year, we’ve picked up about 280 deer. We give out 500-600 pounds of venison per week,” said Pete. “Right now, we’re continuing to grow and get help from people like you, and we certainly appreciate it. This is God opening the doors, and we’re going with it.”
Those are significant numbers indicating a large demand for donated meat in the Lowcountry. According to their HEAL Mini-Grant application, each pound of venison provides approximately five meals, making a significant impact on the families they serve. They’re currently working with 17 food banks, and the list of meat processors is growing, which means the potential of getting even more venison donations during deer season is very real.
“Our goal for 2024 is to process 15,000 pounds of venison, which will generate up to 75,000 meals. It’s an ambitious target, but it underscores our commitment to scaling our operations and reaching more families in need,” said Pete.
Their commitment is solid. One hundred percent of all donations and grants received covers the meat processing fees. All administrative costs of doing business come out of their pockets, as well as their Board of Directors’ pockets. They rely on volunteers to help pick up and deliver donations, take on staff roles, and pitch in when help is needed. All of their children, grandchildren, and their own siblings are heavily involved in the organization.
“A true blessing is giving and not receiving. That’s the way we look at it,” said Pete. “This has been an eye-opening experience. We’re just growing and growing. More and more meat processors are hearing about us and they want to join our efforts, so I need to make sure we have the funding to pay the processing fees and buy equipment to store the venison.”
Pete explained their very simple operating system. During deer hunting season (Aug 15-Jan 1), licensed hunters are limited to harvesting ten deer. Pete says that one or two deer can fill up a freezer. So, what is a hunter to do if they want to continue to hunt? Many hunters offer venison to family, friends or neighbors. Through the Hunters Helping Hands network of meat processors, hunters can drop off the deer and choose to pay a small dressing fee. Pete and Lori are notified when the venison is ready for pick-up and volunteers distribute the meat to partnering food banks.
“If you talk to a hunter who donates their deer, they’ll tell you this: it’s a win-win situation for a deer hunter. They can continue to hunt and feel good about helping people in need,” said Pete.
When deer season ends, the organization continues to receive venison from local farmers who experience severe or persistent crop damage because of deer. As Pete explained, hunters and their representatives can hunt deer during the off season with a special permit from the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources. This rule helps sustain the venison donations throughout the year.
“Before we came along, those deer would be destroyed. We picked up 170 deer before the season came in this year that otherwise would have been left in the field and destroyed,” said Pete. “And that’s what a processor in Orangeburg is wanting to do next year. Instead of destroying them, he wants to give them to us.”
Besides fruits and vegetables, protein plays an important role in the diets of everyone. While venison has been an option for generations of families, it is now a “new” healthy protein option for many Lowcountry families in need, thanks to the huge hearts of hunters.
Jumping Through Hoops: Navigating the Challenges of a HEAL Mini-Grant
Sometimes, even the best plans run into unexpected challenges, especially during the procurement process. When your mini-grant project doesn’t go as planned, it can be discouraging, but it’s important to remember that setbacks are a normal part of the process. Leaders at Oakwood-Windsor Elementary School in Aiken County found out firsthand how a project of installing an outdoor water fountain/water bottle refill station and soccer goals can have challenges.
Oakwood-Windsor, located just outside of Windsor, South Carolina, is a Title I school with a high poverty rate. Thirty percent of its student population represents the Hispanic community, and many families work multiple jobs to make ends meet. Even though Title I schools receive federal funding for programs and instruction, there are no funds available for improvements to the environment, such as purchasing and installing an outdoor water fountain/water bottle refill station or play equipment.
Due to its rural location, the playground is a busy place in the evenings and on weekends. Unfortunately, it did not have a lot to offer. During school hours, the principal observed her students using cones and other objects to mark imaginary soccer goal lines, and there was a lot of traffic entering and exiting the school building for a drink of water. She wanted to make recess more fun and water more accessible. She also had the community in mind. Her goal was to increase the use of the playground and encourage healthy living among all of the school’s stakeholders.
“When I first got here, there were things that I wanted to be able to provide for my kids, but I just didn’t have the funds to do so. I don’t have an active PTO, and even when we did have one, it wasn’t a big money-making enterprise, if you will, like in other schools. So, I needed to look for different opportunities that were out there,” said Principal Davina Truitt.
In 2021, Principal Truitt learned about the Healthy Eating and Active Living (HEAL) Mini-Grant funding opportunity and wasted no time submitting her application. She said, “I was very shocked and thankful in a wonderful way to learn that we received the grant. But then it went downhill because it took us so long to make it come to fruition.”
Hurdle 1: Grant proposal was partially funded
When Truitt received her award letter, she learned that she would not be receiving the entire budget request of nearly $5,000. Facing limited funds, Principal Truitt did what she knew best. She talked about it. The self-proclaimed Chatty Cathy was honest during casual conversations with community partners who were interested in updates about what was happening at Oakwood-Windsor. Because she cares deeply about her students, she engages with community partners by talking about them, the projects or initiatives that are happening, and the needs and wishes of her school.
“I just shared with a member of the Rotary Club of Aiken Sunrise the excitement that we received this grant, but we don’t have quite the funds. But it’s okay because we’re going to figure it out,” said Truitt, “and they said, ‘You know what? I’m noting this. Let me go back to my board, and we’re going to be in touch.’ And next thing I know, they did a fundraiser because they wanted us to be able to afford everything we needed for this project.”
The Rotary Club of Aiken Sunrise was able to raise more funds than anyone had expected. They matched the amount received from the HEAL Mini-Grant, plus more. According to Truitt, “We were able to get soccer balls and an even nicer set of soccer goals than the ones I initially picked out.”
As to why the grant was partially funded, Wholespire Executive Director Meg Stanley said, “We were trying to fund as many qualifying and good applications as we could. Using the knowledge we had of cost estimates and resources, we decided to partially fund this project. If we could go back and change that, we would. We do not take that approach today because we now know that each school or entity has their own procedures and processes for selecting vendors or equipment. Partial funding can decrease the impact of community projects. However, our funder does have the authority to not fund a specific line item in a proposed budget.”
Hurdle 2: The procurement process has its challenges
The goal of a procurement process is to ensure you get the best value for your budget while ensuring that the quality, timing, and other factors meet an organization’s requirements. When you’re not familiar with your organization’s process, seek advice and guidance from colleagues in the procurement department or, in Oakwood-Windsor’s case, colleagues in the district office.
The Aiken County School District requires at least three quotes from external contractors. You would think that finding a qualified plumber is simple, but that’s not always true. The first quote was easily obtained through the district office’s preferred plumber, but the installation quote was extremely high. Many businesses Truitt reached out to didn’t respond to her request for a quote or the contractor could not fit an onsite visit into their schedule. Truitt turned to community partners for recommendations, but to no avail; she could not get responses.
The key to this hurdle is keeping everyone in the loop. Truitt continued to keep Wholespire and the school district office updated on her progress and the challenges she was facing, which kept Oakwood- Windsor in good standing with Wholespire in spite of the unexpected delays. She eventually found a plumber who provided a quote that fit her budget, but she still needed one more quote. Fortunately, her school district contact understood the challenge, the time invested in getting the second quote, and the fact that she was well beyond the nine-month timeframe of the mini-grant. In the end, the school district contact agreed that she could complete the procurement process with only two quotes.
Hurdle 3: The contractor was difficult to reach
Truitt found her plumber, but there was a small glitch that turned into a big, time-consuming hurdle. After ordering the water fountain/water bottle refill station recommended by the plumber, there was a communication failure. Getting in touch with the contracted plumber was difficult. It took months to reach him.
“It honestly became a bit of a nightmare,” said Truitt. “We tried contacting him by phone but couldn’t leave a voicemail. We would send emails back and forth. We finally got in touch with him, and he partially installed the water bottle refill station.”
Electricity became a factor that the plumber could not address. So, she reached back out to the school district office for guidance, and they sent their electricians to finish the job. Now, it was time to address the soccer goals.
“We worked again with a member of our school district office staff. He’s very knowledgeable about all things playgrounds, and he guided us on purchasing good-quality soccer goals,” said Truitt. “He even helped us put them together and installed the goals.”
It was a long, drawn-out process, but Truitt remained committed to the project, the excitement of her students, and the benefit of the community.
The successes outweigh the challenges
Looking back, the Oakwood-Windsor Elementary School HEAL Mini-Grant project was successful in many ways. First and foremost, the students don’t have barriers to accessing water while outside, giving them more time for outdoor physical activity. They no longer have to imagine soccer goal lines and can kick the balls as hard as they want.
“Our students have already commented on how much more they enjoy going on the playground now that they can play soccer. And, now that our hydration station has been installed and is functional, our students (and visitors to the playground) won’t miss physical activity time by having to go inside or leave the playground altogether to get some water. We have already seen more students being physically active on the playground in the short amount of time they’ve had with the project components.”
Other successes of the project include the school district office being flexible with the procurement process, community partners leveraging funds through a fundraiser, being able to purchase better quality soccer goals and soccer balls, and school district employees completing the water fountain/water bottle filling station and volunteering their time and knowledge on soccer goals and installation.
Asked if she has any advice to other grant recipients, Principal Truitt said, “My words of advice would be to just keep the focus on the purpose of the project and not get discouraged if there are challenges or roadblocks. For us, it was the commitment to providing our Wise Owls with a healthy space to do something they enjoy, playing soccer! Keep reaching out to others who can help your project come to fruition and be persistent.”
Perhaps one last success was the flexibility and understanding of Wholespire. Even though the HEAL mini-grant requires a nine-month implementation time frame, challenges and roadblocks do arise that prevent the project from being completed on time.
“Oakwood-Windsor is not the first mini-grant recipient to face uncontrollable roadblocks that delay project completion. We greatly appreciate Ms. Truitt’s continuous communication with us during the project implementation process. Her communication allowed us to be more understanding and provide explanations to our funder,” said Stanley.
Whether it’s because of challenges you didn’t see coming or changes in the situation, the Oakwood-Windsor hurdles offered valuable lessons. The key is to stay flexible, keep lines of communication open with the funder, and use what you’ve learned to improve future efforts.
The HEAL Mini-Grant is funded by the BlueCross© BlueShield© of South Carolina Foundation, an independent licensee of the BlueCross© BlueShield© Association.
Oconee County Students, Community Get Active Pathways
Nestled between Oconee State Park and Lake Keowee in Oconee County, students at Tamassee-Salem Elementary School are reaping the benefits of active pathways, also known as sensory pathways, and blacktop games, and so are community members. In 2022, former Physical Education Teacher Leah Ryan made it her mission to give the students, teachers and community an outlet for brain breaks and fun physical activity. She applied for a Wholespire Healthy Eating and Active Living Mini-Grant and got it!
Sensory pathways have become a popular tool for school administrators and teachers to help students stimulate their cognitive activity with movement. They are a series of visual cues on the ground that guide students along a particular path. From jumping, leaping, and walking a line, students follow the guided paths for a fun break between classes, during indoor recess and other ways teachers choose to incorporate them into their lesson plan.
In his letter of support, Tamassee-Salem Elementary School Principal Bobby Norizan said, “What I love about this initiative is that it is sustainable, and simply put, it is something that will help make physical activity more enjoyable. We have several families use our walking track outside of school hours, but I feel like we will be providing more opportunities other than simply walking the track if we are able to add the active pathway activities.”
Principal Norizan said, “The Four Square games not only provide an opportunity for physical activity but also opportunities for students to socially interact within the rules during active play, which is vital regarding the developmental growth of their students.”
Tamassee-Salem Elementary School received funding for the purchase of reusable stencil kits and paint. They leveraged 12 hours of volunteer time to place and paint the pathways. Pathways were placed on the walking path, a paved sidewalk that circles the school. Four Square games were placed in the recess area.
Mrs. Ryan said in her application, “A couple of teachers use the path as a brain break for their students. This active pathway will encourage more teachers to take their students outside more, and students will get to benefit from the open play. I teach students how to play Four Square in my physical education class. It is an easily accessible and simple game to play. Having the courts will give students access to a physically active game they can play at recess.”
Community members in Tamassee and Salem who use the walking path for physical activity benefit from the active pathways too. The School District of Oconee County adopted an Open Community Use Policy, which allows community members to use outdoor recreational facilities on school grounds for physical activity and play. Now, children aren’t the only ones who can jump, leap and walk a line as they navigate the path. Adults can too!
Physical activity is not just a vital component of a healthy lifestyle; it also plays a crucial role in academic success and overall well-being, especially in the school environment. More and more school administrators and teachers are emphasizing the integration of physical activity into the daily lives of students. Administrators and teachers at rural Tamassee-Salem Elementary School are part of the growing innovation in creating healthier school environments.
