Processing center helps feed those in need during deer season
CARO, Mich. (WNEM) – A local processing center is using deer hunting season and their business to make a difference.
“My dad started this back in 1982 and we’ve kind of just run with it since then. We followed his passion,” said Kelly Phipps with Janks Deer Processing in Caro.
She and Diane Janks said this is the best season of the year.
“They say football’s the best time. No, deer season,” Phipps said.
Continuing her late father’s legacy, Phipps and her mother run Janks Deer Processing Center, and they say they wouldn’t trade their job for anything.
“The people. Yeah, the people. I’ll admit we have some of the most amazing people that stop in and we have people from Tennessee that stop in and visit when they’re up, and they’re only up once a year, so that’s all we get to see them,” Phipps and Janks said.
However, they said the most rewarding part is being able to give back to the community. Every year they participate in Sportsmen Against Hunger, a program where hunters can donate their deer to families in need.
“Some people like to shoot deer but not necessarily eat them or fill their freezers and then they have extras. So, what they do, they drop them off to us and we find homes for them. With the state police and the sheriff’s department’s help, we find veterans that need food and elderly people that need food, and we make sure we stock their freezers,” Phipps said.
Helping others is what this time of year is all about.
“There’s a lot of people that can’t afford food and our veterans are very, very important to us as well as our elderly people that are neighbors and people that we know need it,” Phipps said.
They also have a food truck on-site to help support the community.
Firearm deer season season runs through Nov. 30.
Click here to support or learn more about the Michigan Sportsmen Against Hunger organization.
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