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Thanks to a Missouri Department of Conservation program, Paradise Locker Meats in Trimble is hoping to donate up to 4,000 pounds of venison to charitable organizations again this winter.

The program, called Share the Harvest, provides local meat processors with a $40 subsidy for every whole deer they process and donate to area food pantries to help feed those in need. Because of the subsidy, Paradise Locker Meats charges hunters a discounted fee of $40 to drop off a deer to be processed and donated for the program, said Teresa Fantasma, co-owner of Paradise Locker Meats.

The meat, she said, then gets skinned, de-boned and ground before being packaged in one-pound increments and sent to one of four charitable organizations in the area they service: the Plattsburg Food Pantry, the Good Samaritan Center of Excelsior Springs, the St. Vincent De Paul Society in Parkville and the City Union Mission in downtown Kansas City.

Last winter, said Mario Fantasma, co-owner of Paradise Locker Meats, the meat processor had 55 whole deer donated for the program from local hunters, which the business turned into 3,700 pounds of meat for those organizations.

Although the program allows them to get the subsidy for up to about 70 deer a year, he said Paradise Locker Meats usually gets somewhere around 55 deer every year in donations, although the need for the meat has become more pressing as of late.

“Participation in the program is about the same every year,” he said. “I would say the need is there, but it all depends on how the year goes for the hunters. But overall it’s still a great program and a lot of meat gets donated.”

So far, Mario said Paradise Locker Meats has received about 23 donated deer this season and processed them into 1,000 pounds of ground venison, most of which has gone to the City Union Mission. But, he said he expects that number to get much higher as the deer hunting seasons come to a close in January.

“We’ll probably get pretty close to 70, I think,” he said. “We still have the rest of the season and people drop deer off all the way through the 15th of January.”

To donate a deer to the program, drop the deer carcass off at Paradise Locker Meats’ building at 405 W. Birch St., Trimble along with the $40 fee.

All you have to do, Mario said, is make sure the animal has been gutted and properly cleaned without any internal contamination and they’ll do the rest.

To learn more about the program and to see a list of processors participating in the program, visit the Missouri Department of Conservation’s Web site at www.mdc.mo.gov/hunt/deer/share.

Staff writer Michael Westblade can be reached at 389-6636 or This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

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