A great story 1st shared on NewYorkUpstate.com. Buffalo Bills defensive end Trent Murphy is helping to raise money for a program that arranges for the meat from deer donated by hunters to make its way to the needy.
Murphy has chosen the Venison Donation Coalition as his charity of choice through the Bills “My cause, My Cleats” program. Players choose a charity which a portion of ticket sales are donated by Bills.
Murphy is one of 23 players participating in the program for the Dec. 9 game against the New York Jets. See the Bills’ website for more.
The team will donate $5 from each ticket purchased through Murphy to the Venison Donation Coalition.
The Venison Donation Coalition was formed by the state Department of Environmental Conservation in 1999 in response to requests from hunters and other sportsmen’s groups. It has since become a non-profit group. Since its inception, the Bath, N.Y.-based program has coordinated the processing and distribution of more than one million pounds of venison to food banks across the state.
The program relies heavily on grants and individual donations through the DEC’s licensing-selling program. However, donations from sportsmen have lagged in recent years, the result in many cases of license sellers not making hunters aware of the program.