Hunters becomes gatherers for hungry families

  • Published
  • By 2nd Lt. Jennifer Whitaker
  • 30th Space Wing Public Affairs
VANDENBERG AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. (AFPN) --  A sergeant here has found a way for base hunters to feed the hungry.

Staff Sgt. Damion McElroy, the 30th Security Forces Squadron game warden, has begun Hunters Against Hunger, a program that gives hunters the opportunity to donate their excess game to feed homeless adults and children in Lompoc, Calif.

McElroy said he got the idea when he was attending college in southern Ohio.

"I was living in a poor environment," McElroy said. "Those people didn't have much."

He said he was riding with a friend when the friend's car hit a deer. When the game warden showed up, he told the two they could take the deer home if they had a deer tag and a hunting license. McElroy had both, and the friend's family, which was poor, was thrilled to have the extra food.

"I realized how blessed I was because that one deer made their whole winter," McElroy said.

He said hunters often run out of room in their freezers or live in the dorms with no place to store game meat, so the program gives them an opportunity to continue hunting while giving back to the community.

As a game warden, one of McElroy's duties is to help control the population of wild pigs on base. He said they become a problem in the dry season, when they enter base housing areas to root in the moist soil on the lawns.

Game wardens set up traps for the pigs and send blood samples to the base clinic to test for diseases, McElroy said.

Before the Hunters Against Hunger program, the pigs were given to various nonprofit organizations on base for use at official functions. Now, McElroy skins the pigs and takes them to a Lompoc butcher who cuts, wraps and freezes the meat for free until representatives from shelters come for it. Douglas Lemp, 30th SFS lead wildlife protection technician, said McElroy's program has established a great relationship between the base and surrounding communities.

"I can't think of a better way to dispose of our ... pigs than to help feed the homeless," Lemp said. "All of Staff Sergeant McElroy's efforts have reflected positively on the fish and wildlife office and the 30th Security Forces Squadron."

The Hope Center is a Lompoc shelter that benefits from McElroy's program. David Tapert, Hope Center director, said the program provides the shelter with the food they need to serve two meals per day, rather than just four dinners per week as in the past.

Hope Center clients "live off what they have and what petty cash they can get. Having the extra food lets them look for jobs and homes instead of having to look for their next meal," Tapert said.

McElroy grew up in urban Ohio, but learned to hunt and fish at a young age.

"I'm from the inner city, but my father would take me out hunting and fishing," he said. He started out (hunting) cottontail rabbits. Then, once in college, he began hunting grouse, squirrel, turkey and whitetail deer.

Since he hunts for sport, McElroy usually gives the meat to charitable organizations. He gave every deer he shot in Ohio to a program similar to Hunters Against Hunger.

"It makes me feel good to know I can help someone," he said. (Courtesy of Air Force Space Command News Service)