In its fourth year, The Deer Project at Good Samaritan Ministries is pretty well established among hunters in the area, but there have been a few changes this year to make the program even more successful than in years’ past.

As last year, there is no cost to the hunter – unless he or she would like to make a donation. All a hunter has to do is take a legally tagged and harvested, field-dressed deer to one of the participating processors, tell them he or she is donating it to The Deer Project and that’s it.

There are a total of five processors this year: M&M Deer Processing in Zephyr, Ted’s Deer Processing in Owens, Santa Anna Custom Processing, Perk’s Deer Processing in Brownwood and Hutchins Custom Processing in Cross Plains.

“We hope the addition of some new locations, along with the ones who participated last year, will make it even easier on the hunters to find a processor to leave their deer with,” said Angelia Bostick, Executive Director of GSM. “This has turned into such an incredible program we want it to be as seamless as possible for everyone involved.”

Another change to the 2011-2012 deer season is in how fundraising has been approached.

“In order to make the program free to the hunters, we have been working very diligently to raise the funds to process the venison,” Bostick said. “Also, in order to make the program work for the processors, we’ve had to increase the cost to process as well.”

It costs about $45 to $50 to process one deer. All of the meat is ground into two-pound chub packs and given to families who, for whatever reason, have fallen on hard times.

In the past, to raise funds GSM has hosted a Cow Pasture Golf and Sporting Clays Shoot, but in considering the ever-increasing numbers of families needing help each month, it was decided that the fundraising be done a bit differently.

“When we’ve seen 900 to 1,000 families consistently for the past five months and seen record numbers for the entire year, it just didn’t seem right or smart to raise money in which a portion would be used for our entertainment,” Bostick said. “Instead, we have team members who are talking directly to friends, neighbors, businesses and community leaders to raise money specifically for The Deer Project. This way 100 percent of all donations raised will go to process deer and feed hungry families in Brown County.”

This has been an incredible year at GSM. Record numbers of families have come to the Food Pantry all year. For seven out of the nine months of the year so far, more than 900 families each month have needed assistance with their groceries and three of those same months saw more than 1,000 families. Everyone who comes through the front doors has a story and those vary from job losses, cut hours, sickness. Times are hard. And when times are hard, GSM is there to help, thanks almost entirely to the incredibly giving nature of the Brown County community.

Anyone who would like to make a donation may bring it by 305 Clark Street, mail to P.O. Box 1136, or make a payment online via PayPal at goodsambwd.org.

“We encourage hunters to use up all of their tags and donate any deer they don’t want for themselves,” Bostick said. “We’ve read numerous stories about the necessity of hunters using all of their tags this year for the good of the deer population, as well. With the heat and the drought, there’s just not enough food out there.”

For more information about The Deer Project or any program offered by Good Samaritan Ministries call 643-2273 or visit www.goodsambwd.org.