[oucorry]

WILLIAMSPORT, Md. — Rick Wilson's life took an unexpected turn along a highway in Virginia in 1997.


It was late September and he was driving to a friend's farm. He hunted those acres when he could, but this time he was on his way to help clear some brush with other hunters and enjoy a barbeque.

He was within miles of the farm's graveled entrance when he saw a woman standing beside a car on the roadside. The car's paint job was rusted down to the primer. The woman's clothing was little better.

He was running late and by his own admission, Wilson was tempted not to stop.

He pulled up to ask if she was having car trouble. She replied that she wasn't, but asked him for help with something else.

"She asked if I could go into the bushes and I was really getting cautious at that point," Wilson said.

Wilson admits that he hesitated, imagining scenarios of a boyfriend or husband lying in wait, ready to attack.

The woman seemed sincerely troubled, however. Praying under his breath, he followed.

She led him to a deer carcass. A buck Wilson describes as "fat" and "slightly battered" had been hit by a car.

The woman asked him to help carry it to her trunk. She had been the one who hit it, but she hadn't reported the incident to the Virginia State Police or a wildlife officer.

When Wilson pointed out that she could be cited for transporting an untagged deer, she told him that she didn't care: She and her children were hungry.

"She was feeding her family on road kill," Wilson said, "I offered to field dress it, but she said 'no.'"

This wasn't the first time she had hit a deer since her had husband died. She and her children had become adept at dressing deer by necessity. Dressing the deer on-site, she explained, would have meant blood leaking into the car from the trunk.

Wilson stared after her as she drove away.

"I realized I had just looked into the eyes of Jesus," Wilson said, "Where He tells us in Matthew 25(:42-43), 'where I was hungry, you gave me something to eat... the least of these, you have done it to me.' I decided in church the following Sunday that I needed to do something. It was just one of those calling situations that I couldn't ignore."

The situation became something of an obsession. Wilson's wife told him to get a hold of himself.


Hunger in America


In 2006

• 10.9% of U.S. households were food insecure at least some time during the year.

• 6.9% of U.S. households had "low food security."

• 4% of U.S. households were classified as having "very low food security."


Statistics courtesy USDA.

Things came to a head when the Wilsons ran into a butcher they knew at a local restaurant: Rick asked the butcher if he would process a load of venison, provided the fees were paid by the Wilsons, churches, civic organizations, business groups, and so on. The butcher agreed.

The Wilsons, who live "about an hour west" of Washington D.C., in Washington County, wound up with 74 deer donated to be processed.

This drew unexpected attention from places like the Maryland Department of Natural Resources. They contacted Wilson, asking that he meet with them in person.

By his own admission, Wilson imagined himself being cited for his lack of a permit, using improper procedures or something worse.

"There were five of them in the director's office," Wilson said. "I really anticipated that they were going to tell me I couldn't do this."

Instead of lecturing him over a list of violations, they asked how he'd managed to get 74 deer donations in Washington County, alone. A similar state program had netted only 80 donations from all across Maryland.

Wilson's reply, as he recalls it, was frank.

"I asked churches, business and individuals… and God," he said. "I doubt that you did."

The group responded, chiefly, by asking him to take over the Maryland program's work. Farmers and Hunters Feeding the Hungry (FHFH) was born.

"I didn't have a computer." Wilson said. "I didn't even know how to type."

When he got home, he had received a reply to a message he'd sent multiple churches. A Web site builder who wanted to help with his work would provide a computer and get him started on the Internet.




"Show me the money"

A middle school art teacher by profession, Wilson was as new to the ins and outs of running a fledgling nonprofit group as he was to the world of computers.


Deer donations kept flowing in. Before long, they eclipsed the number of monetary donations for funding processing.

By mid October — deep into bow season — Wilson's pet project was $716 dollars in debt. Firearms season hadn't even begun.

Wilson called his pastor to say "we're in trouble here."

The minister instructed him to come to their church. When he arrived, he was led into the pastor's office.

"I thought the pastor would give me money," Wilson said. "But he said 'let's pray.' I had been thinking, 'show me the money.'"

Despite his disappointment at the lack of financial aid, Wilson agreed, knelt and prayed.

Trying to be gracious, he left the pastor's office, deep in doubt.

Two days later, Wilson's pastor called and asked him to come back in. When Wilson arrived, he was presented with an envelope containing $700.

"The pastor said, 'Rick, I've never had prayer answered quite this quickly,'" Wilson said, "'But His math isn't perfect'".

A couple of days later, the pastor called him into the office again, visibly shaken. Another envelope had arrived by mail from anonymous donor. It contained $16.

By the next year, in 1998, the organization had grown, but they were over budget again. Deer donations had eclipsed funding, this time to the tune of over $8,000.

"On Tuesday, we had a board of directors' meeting (to break the news)," Wilson said, "On Wednesday I got a call from a stranger who said 'I've learned a little bit about your program. How can I help?'

Wilson jokingly mentioned that he could use $8,000 to $9,000.

"Call this number," the caller said.

The number led Wilson to Angus Phillips, a reporter with the Washington Post.

Two days after the article ran, that December, Wilson got another call from his pastor, asking, "are you sitting down?'"

The mailbox at the church wouldn't close. Over $4000 in checks had come from Baltimore, Washington and elsewhere.

Over $30,000 would come in before the close of the season. Over $8,000 of that remained as a surplus to start the next year's processing.

By 2000, Farmers and Hunters Feeding the Hungry held its first national gathering. Representatives from 15 different states came from around the U.S.


Today's FHFH has chapters throughout the United States as well as one in Alberta, Canada. They conduct day-to-day business out of donated office space and maintain a staff of over 500 volunteers.

"We've been growing by leaps and bounds," Wilson said.

As of December 2007, talks were also under way with representatives from five Canadian provinces about expanding FHFH northward on a national scale.

While good is being done, the fight is far from over. Hunger remains a serious problem in the country that gave the world golden arches. According to the USDA, 10.9 % of U.S. households (8.0 million people) did not have a reliable source of food in 2006.

Learn what it's like to volunteer as an FHFH processor and get tips on preparing game for donation here.

If you'd like more information on FHFH — including the location(s) of your nearest processor(s) or how to make a tax deductible monetary contribution — please visit their Web site (http://www.fhfh.org) or call 1-866-GETFHFH (1-866-438-3434).

[Marvin]

Great story, makes me want to get more involved in Hunters for the hungry here (OK). Anyway have any websites I could check out?

[DrakeHunter]

I have already become involved in the hunters for the hungry. Most butcher shops wil help. I use Big Country Meat Market located in Enid Oklahoma. I have become a trophy hunter and am not interested in the meat. All I have to do is drop of the deer, skinned or unskinned pay a $15b fee and done. The meat is taken care of and donnated for me.

[D Winkler]

Thats what we were gonna do last year. There was a place in Wetherford Ok, can't think of the name now but will post it when I do.