Stronger together: Hunters, processors, and pantries expanding food access for Illinois families
For the fourth season in a row, a statewide effort is turning deer donations into family meals, easing the strain of rising food prices and creating benefits for communities, businesses, and the environment.
Across Illinois, the season turns and work resumes. In timber lots and along field edges, hunters take to familiar ground with a shared mission. What starts as a harvest in the woods continues in coolers, cutting rooms, and community rooms, then arrives as dinner on tables that need it most. Hunters Feeding Illinois is the thread that joins these moments.
Fighting hunger across Illinois
One in eight people in Illinois face hunger every day, including one in six children. For families watching food prices climb, protein is often the most difficult item to afford. Hunters Feeding Illinois responds by linking the places where food begins with the places where it is needed. Hunters donate deer. Meat processors turn those donations into ground venison. Food pantries deliver that lean protein to Illinois residents and families. The result is a steady path from source to table in communities that benefit from reliability as much as volume.
This work is shared. The program is a joint effort between Feeding Illinois, Southern Illinois Food Pantry Network, Access Illinois Outdoors, and University of Illinois Extension. It began in 2022 as the Illinois Deer Donation Program, created in response to rising prices for food and meat and the real difficulty food pantries faced sourcing protein. What started as a pilot in 12 counties has grown to 44 counties statewide. Today that includes 18 in East-Central Illinois, 23 in Southern Illinois, and 3 in West-Central Illinois. The program partners with 19 meat processors across those territories: 8 in East-Central, 7 in Southern, and 4 in West-Central.
"Around 1 in 8 people in Illinois struggle to access food, with rates higher in two-thirds of the program coverage area," says Caitlin Mellendorf, nutrition and wellness educator. Because protein foods are often expensive, Hunters Feeding Illinois helps individuals and families access this essential nutrient, a building block for muscles, bones, and overall health.
How it works: A cross-community effort
During deer season, hunters donate their harvest to the program. Partner processors store and butcher the deer, then prepare it for distribution. Food pantries receive and share the meat with families. Each deer provides roughly 60 pounds of lean protein, packaged into 1- to 2-pound portions of ground venison. That format fits household freezers, makes meal planning simpler, and gives pantries a reliable flow of nutritious food.
Food is most useful when people know how to use it. Families who receive venison also benefit from the University of Illinois Extension’s Eat. Move. Save. program, which offers recipe tastings, cooking tips, and guidance on safe storage. The support is practical and immediate: how to thaw, how to season, how to stretch a pound of ground venison into a hearty meal.
The benefits touch every group involved:
Families gain affordable, high-quality protein that helps stretch a budget under pressure.
Hunters continue harvesting deer without waste, helping manage local deer populations, prevent crop damage, and reduce vehicle collisions.
Meat processors earn additional business during the busy hunting season and receive $100 per deer in reimbursement through donations and grants.
Food pantries supply a consistent source of protein to guests who need it.
Communities and the environment see practical gains as local economies strengthen and wildlife is managed with care.
The model succeeds because it does not ask any one group to carry the whole load. It recognizes the strengths already present in Illinois communities and lines them up. Hunters have access to deer and a tradition of contribution. Processors have skill, equipment, and cold storage. Pantries understand local need and distribution. Extension staff bring proven nutrition education. Donors help fill the gaps that keep the system moving. The program provides the lane where these strengths travel together.
The program’s growing impact
Outdoors is an economy as well as a landscape. In Illinois, hunting, fishing, boating, camping, and related activities create $3.2 billion in annual economic impact and support more than 33,000 jobs statewide. Hunters Feeding Illinois is one visible place where that outdoor economy meets daily life. It connects the field to the table and ensures that harvests are used well.
During the 2024–25 deer hunting season, hunters donated 584 deer. Those donations produced 24,278 pounds of venison, which were distributed through 54 local food pantries by 20 processors across central and southern Illinois. Success builds on itself as partners refine the process and more communities participate.
Looking ahead, the upcoming hunting season runs from October 1, 2025 to January 18, 2026. Last year, hunters in Illinois harvested 170,758 deer across all archery and firearm seasons, according to the Illinois Department of Natural Resources (IDNR). The IDNR issued more than 563,000 deer permits in 2024–25, a 3.78 percent increase from the previous year. With steady participation, Hunters Feeding Illinois has the potential to put even more venison on family tables this year.
How to participate
Participation is open and direct. During deer season, hunters can donate harvested deer through participating processors. A quick call ahead ensures smooth handling and clear timing.
Community members who want to help can give financially. Every dollar is matched by Feeding Illinois, effectively doubling the impact. In practical terms, a $50 gift becomes $100, enough to cover the processing cost of a whole deer. That single act turns into dozens of meals.
Donations can be made online at feedingillinois.org/donate.