The mission of South Dakota Sportsmen Against Hunger is to encourage and facilitate donation of wild game meat to needy people in South Dakota.

Conducting a "clean out your freezer" food drive for game meat

Considerations...

Check with a local food pantry, or the Feeding South Dakota office in Sioux Falls (605- 335-0364), Pierre (605-494-3663), or Rapid City (605-348-2689) to find out if there is interest in receiving frozen game meat from a "clean out your freezer" food drive in your community.
If so, determine from the pantry or food bank involved what will be accepted in terms of kind(s) of game meat, age of game meat, and home and/or commercially processed meat. (Other foods could be accepted as well.) Also arrange for possible temporary food storage, and for delivery to a food pantry/bank.
Possibly plan and coordinate with other organization(s) in your community.
Inform the local Conservation Officer of tentative plans for the food drive to make sure there is approval/permit) for possession and transportation of donated game meat, and to otherwise find out what record keeping would be required. Be sure to ask about special gifting rules for migratory birds.
Select a date, and hours of day, to conduct the food drive. A Saturday in September or October just prior to the major deer hunting seasons usually works well as long as it does not conflict with the opening of any hunting season.
Possibly consider offering to pick up food to be donated.
Select at least one food drop-off location that is well-known to the public, and make arrangements with the location owner.
Provide plenty of publicity at least 2-3 weeks in advance of the food drive including what, when, where, why and how. Also arrange for media coverage of the drive.
Arrange for plenty of coolers at the drop-off location(s) to temporarily store frozen meat until it can be taken to pre-arranged food pantry freezer(s). At least one person involved in conducting the food drive should be at each drop-off location for the duration to answer questions, monitor cooler storage space, and provide for timely delivery of the frozen food to a freezer for storage until can be taken by the food pantry/bank.
Report results back to the community with "Thanks".
Contact Jeff Olson (605-342-2445) or Ron Fowler (605-280-4977) if have questions.