Mike Aversa, a semiretired accountant, goes hunting as often as possible.

He uses the first six or seven deer he shoots each season to stock his family’s freezer and table. Venison chili, venison meatballs and venison sausage are staples in his house in Annandale, a community in western New Jersey.

In 1997, a desire to do what he could to share the much-needed source of protein with food-insecure families — while indulging a hobby and addressing the state’s severe overpopulation of deer — motivated Mr. Aversa to join with two friends and found Hunters Helping the Hungry.

A quarter century later, the program is considered one of the top three game-meat donation programs in the country, according to a study by a firearms trade association. Since its start, the all-volunteer nonprofit has arranged for the donation of 14,731 deer — about 2.2 million quarter-pound servings of fresh, lean protein — to New Jersey residents in need.

Full story here.