Hunting for the hungry

A group of hunters are fighting hunger in New Jersey, one deer at a time.

They're known as Hunters Helping The Hungry, a non-profit that's united hunters, butchers and food pantries in the fight against hunger.

"I'm one of the fortunate ones," said hunter Marc Charbonneau.  "I can go out to Shop Rite and buy food. When you meet someone and you meet a family who can't that gets on your heart strings real hard."

The practice of donating venison to food banks first became legal in New Jersey in 1997.

Shortly after, Lester Giese founded the non-profit, modeling off similar ones across the country.

Today, the organization has served more than a million meals made from 200 tons of venison donations.

"We got like 5 deer that first season," said Giese. "It wasn't till the following year that it really picked up. Last season, we were over 700 deer which was about twenty-five thousand pounds of donated venison."

Hunters Helping The Hungry accepts donations to offset the cost of processing the deer and storing the meat. 

All donations can be made by going to www.huntershelpingthehungry.org.