We enjoy receiving stories from proud parents about kids choosing to donate their first deer to feed the hungry. This fall the Lord brought us a twist on that theme as a proud son and past volunteer with FHFH got to help his father fulfill a dream. Please take a few minutes to enjoy this heartwarming story from our friend Don in Ohio.

“Dad and I have discussed hunting and FHFH many times over the past 25 years since I moved back to Ohio after leaving the Army in 1998.

He had visited several times and had gone to a few Whitetails Unlimited banquets where he assisted me in raffling muzzleloaders, selling hats and T-Shirts and talking with people at those banquets about FHFH.

After losing his wife to cancer in January and himself breaking his hip in February, dad moved back to Ohio with my wife and I after living in California and Arizona for almost 50 years.

His dream was to hunt with me again (which we were able to do once when he lived in California). So together we built a platform and set up a ground blind on it, put it next to the house and practiced with my Mission Crossbow. After he was comfortable getting in and out of the blind and with the crossbow, I moved the ground blind and platform to the back of the property.

On September 27, 2022 (his 88th birthday), we made that dream come true. We hunted together for the first time in almost 30 years. That day, dad harvested his first deer and we did it together.

As we sat in the blind celebrating together, giving thanks, reviewing the video and allowing her time to expire, dad looked at me and said “She’s going to feed a lot of people.” I asked him if that meant that he was going to donate her and he said that he wanted to follow my example and donate his first deer. Not only was it his first deer of the season, this was his first deer ever.

Leviticus 27:30 says, “A tenth of the produce of the land, whether grain or fruit, is the Lord’s…” And Proverbs 3:9 says, “Honor the Lord with your wealth, with the first fruits of all your crops.”

The Lord blessed him with a nice doe on September 27th and then another one for me on October 28th. Both (our first fruits) were donated to FHFH. Dad and I delivered those two and several other donated deer to the Breiel Church Pantry and to the Hope House Rescue Mission both in Middletown, Ohio.”