Offering what he calls a good substitute for beef while helping out the county’s food banks is the purpose of LetEMgrow, a new community organization, says its founder Adam Fry.

“It is dedicated to promoting whitetail management and high functioning civic relationships between deer hunters and the local community,” Fry said. “We are working with venison processors to get donated venison from hunters into the food pantries. Venison donations for deer season will be distributed to all the food pantries.”

As part of fulfilling its mission this past Saturday 9-year-old Levi Shafer made a donation of 20 pounds of burger from his first buck kill to a local food bank.

The focus of the organization is two-fold: to get hunters to give back to the community and to educate hunters on the value of letting younger bucks grow to at least 2 years old, Fry said.

“We are trying to improve our deer herd by not killing young bucks so buck quality will improve,” he said.

Also LetEMgrow wants to promote the use of deer meat in daily household menus.

“Venison is a healthier alternative to beef,” Fry said. “It is a free resource. Deer are a natural resource. It is being able to use free venison. It is a win-win situation. I have hunted enough years to see a lot of deer meat go to waste. Many hunters don’t use all the meat.”

Any hunter wishing to donate venison can do so by contacting Hannon’s Deer Processing or Fry at (740) 547-4253.

Anyone wanting more information about LetEMGrow can visit its the website at www.letemgrow.org.