Bacon County Family Connection Food Pantry Teams Up with Hunters for the Hungry

October 3, 2024 Print This Post

After the loss of their primary funding source in the fall of 2023, Kim’s Food Pantry— a partnership between Bacon County Family Connection and Alma Action Pact—struggled to keep food on the shelves and in its freezers. Then, they learned about the Georgia Hunters for the Hungry program.

It’s a way for hunters, and farmers with special permits, to give back to those in need by bringing fresh, high-protein, commercially processed venison to their tables. Under this program, commercial farmers are allowed to remove deer causing damage to their crops outside of the open hunting season.

Certified and inspected deer processors can pick up the deer from the farmers’ land, process it, package it, freeze it, and make it available to local charitable organizations for distribution to the hungry.

“I found out we had one of these processors in neighboring Nicholls, and reached out,” explained Bacon County Family Connection Coordinator Laura Crozier. “Within just a couple days, I was picking up 200 pounds of ground venison, packaged and frozen in 1 1/2-pound packs. A day later, we were giving out three pounds of the meat at the Fifth Street Food Pantry.”

David Kicklighter, of Kick’s Meats, is happy to be a part of the Hunters for the Hungry program. “It’s a way to utilize our natural resources and help out the community at the same time,” said Kicklighter, who is doing more than making a one-time donation to Fifth Street. He’s already got another 60 deer ready to be processed and has agreed to make the meat donation on a regular basis.

Located at 202 E. Fifth Street in Alma, the pantry provides monthly food boxes to the community. Kim’s Food Pantry was recently renamed from Fifth Street Food Pantry to honor the late Kim Vickers, former Bacon County Family Connection coordinator and founder of the pantry. Vickers founded the charitable organization more than 10 years ago. It is supported by donations from individuals, churches, businesses, and civic organizations.

After Vickers’ unexpected passing last year, the pantry struggled to keep its doors open and went through a complete reorganization, becoming a registered nonprofit corporation and a 501c3 charitable organization. It was decided at this time to honor Vickers and her many contributions to the Alma-Bacon County community by renaming the pantry after her.

For more information about the pantry or to donate in Vickers’ memory, contact Crozier at 912-632-0056 or baconfamconn@gmail.com.