MEDIA ADVISORY/PHOTO OPPORTUNITY

For Immediate Release

March 12, 2009

SAFARI CLUB INTERNATIONAL TO MAKE GENEROUS DONATION

Wild Game Donation will help feed residents of Southwest Ohio

CINCINNATI, OH – The Southwest Ohio Chapter of Safari Club International (SCI) and the Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR) Division of Wildlife will donate venison and other wild game to needy families in eight southwest Ohio counties. The donation will take place at Mueller Roofing, 400 E. Wyoming Ave., Cincinnati OH 45215. A time of 12:00 noon has been set for the donation. The donations will be distributed in Adams, Brown, Butler, Clermont, Clinton, Hamilton, Highland and Warren counties.

Five deer as well as several other game species will be donated on March 13, 2009. This totals around 750lbs.of venison and wild game. Food pantries generally receive very little red meat donations. Any monetary donations they do receive are then used to buy meat. The monies cannot be used on administrative fees and the people that run the food pantries and banks do so as volunteers and not paid employees. “These folks do an extraordinary amount of work, for free, to make sure that the people in their communities don’t go hungry” said Montgomery County Wildlife Officer Trent Weaver. Officer Weaver is heading up the donation program for Wildlife District Five this year.

Hunters wishing to donate their deer to a food bank are, in most cases, required to pay for the processing of the venison. Organizations such as Safari Club International, as well as private meat processors have helped absorb the cost of deer processing in some areas. The Southwest Ohio Chapter of Safari Club International has funded venison donations in this area of the state for over eleven years through their Sportsmen Against Hunger program.

For more information on donating venison, visit www.wildohio.com. For information on the Southwest Ohio Chapter of Safari Club International, visit www.sciswo.org