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Commission staff recommends re‑designating Feeding Texas to manage Help Feed Hungry Texans program
Summary
TPWD staff recommended that the commission continue its longstanding designation of Feeding Texas as the nonprofit that administers voluntary license‑sale donations for the Help Feed Hungry Texans venison donation program; staff reported $1.5 million in donations passed through the program to date.
Blaise Korzecz, TPWD’s deer program leader, recommended the commission re‑designate Feeding Texas as the statewide nonprofit to administer the Help Feed Hungry Texans program, an arrangement under Parks and Wildlife Code §42.011 that lets license purchasers voluntarily donate at checkout to support venison donation to food assistance providers.
Korzecz told commissioners the program has been administered by Feeding Texas since its inception in 2015 and that TPWD has passed through more than $1.5 million in voluntary donations. He said Feeding Texas has distributed over 773,000 pounds of processed venison and that the program has helped feed more than half a million Texans. The current contract with Feeding Texas is set to expire Aug. 14, 2025; staff recommended renewing the designation given Feeding Texas’s statewide network of 20 food banks and more than 25 years of program experience.
He said the program allows hunters to donate legally harvested deer; participating processors convert donated deer into ground venison for pickup by food banks. Korzecz said hunters are not charged a fee to donate deer through the program and that food banks and processors coordinate logistics, including refrigerated pickups when minimums are met.
Korzecz said staff received five public comments in support of re‑designation. The staff recommendation is to place the re‑designation on the commission’s formal agenda for public comment and adoption.
