No one liked school food when I was kid.

What was supposed to be burger meat tasted like plastic and to this day, the identity of some of the concoctions put on plates where I went to school remains a mystery. It was gross and I was glad my mom packed me a lunch.

I say no kids liked the school food but actually, there was one that was very enthusiastic about eating it. We’ll call him Johnny.

Johnny got to school on the early bus every morning and ate the free breakfast. I remember mom dropping me off early a few times and seeing him run toward the cafeteria. In fact, he frequently got in trouble for running down the hallway to get breakfast and lunch.

Once the cafeteria was serving some sort of nasty looking beef stew and none of the kids was eating it. That is none of the kids but Johnny. He was asking other kids for theirs. You might be thinking Johnny was an overeater and simply gluttonous but he was thin as a rail and sickly.

One day I overheard a couple of the teachers talking about him and learned he lived his abusive, alcoholic father and most of the time never got fed at home unless the church brought by food. At the time, I knew Johnny he was only eight years old.

I tell you this story in the context of an outdoors column because there are ways you can help kids like Johnny. Take Hunters for the Hungry for example. This program takes donations of heart healthy venison to feed the hungry throughout not only Texas but also the nation.

Nowadays it is easy to be hard-hearted about the issue of hunger in America. Yes, there are people who put themselves in bleak situations via drugs, alcohol, gambling etc. and I will let you debate whether they deserve their lot in life or not. However, there is not a single child in this country who wants to be hungry and certainly none who deserve an empty stomach. Just because a child’s parent has made poor choices does not mean the children should starve.

Yes, some starve here. No, we do not have famine like in Africa, India, Bangladesh or a host other Third World countries but there are children whose stomachs cry out for nourishment right here in Texas.

And with many families hurting in Southeast Texas because of Hurricane Ike we should be able to see there are many people in need.

As outdoors lovers, Hunters for the Hungry allows us to share the bounty of the whitetail deer population with those less fortunate. Most hunters I know, including myself, throw deer meat away every year because of freezer burn. That means they are wasting meat that could be used to feed the hungry. In addition, while this program only takes whitetail deer meat, various local soup kitchens and homeless shelters will take other wild game. I have even donated fish in the past, so you might want to ask around.

Right now, many of us could simply walk down the street and find families that are hurting and make direct donations. It is that easy.

This year if you shoot a deer considering donating to this very worthy cause. You will be helping kids like Johnny and putting food in the mouths of needy adults as well. It is not a handout, but a hand up and any of us could find ourselves in that situation.

Seriously, how many lost paychecks are you away from poverty?

May God bless your outdoors endeavors and may we all keep those who are less fortunate in mind during this time of need.