EDITOR:
We would like to commend a small city and especially one of its officers for the implementation of a plan that is helping its community full circle.
This fall, Officer Shane Moore, of the Riverside, Missouri PD, contacted our business regarding donating deer he was harvesting to the Missouri Share the Harvest Program and wanted to know if we could process these. So, at the beginning of the season, it was just a typical process wherein Officer Shane would drop off the deer and we processed it for distribution to local food pantries that had signed up with MDC to take donated deer.
However, it was not long before Officer Shane had filled our initial quota for the program, and when I contacted the program operators I was informed that due to a lack of funding we might not be able to increase our quotas as we had in past years. When I contacted Officer Moore about this dilemma, he took the initiative to speak with others at the City of Riverside and come up with a plan that has since benefitted the community of Riverside directly, as well as helped our small business be able to give work to people who otherwise might not have been able to due to us having to turn away the deer.
Here is the plan that was devised by Officer Moore, the City of Riverside, and our small business:
Shane contacted me and asked if there was way the city could pay the processing fees, and then the meat could then be given directly back to a local pantry, Mimi’s, located in Riverside. After putting our heads together and contacting the Missouri Conservation Agency, we were able to get the specifics worked out and that is when the giving back began. Since that time Officer Moore has spent most nights and even mornings (including part of his holidays) harvesting to date 44 deer and supplying the community pantry with hundreds of pounds of meat for people in need.
We wish to let the citizens of Riverside and surrounding communities know that Officer Moore has shown what “Giving Back” is all about. Sitting in the cold, rain, and multiple other weather conditions, he has a goal to reach 50 by the end of the season on Jan. 15, and we are sure he will get there.
And thank you to the City of Riverside for agreeing to this untried plan and trusting that it would succeed.
--Staff of North Oak
Quality Meats
7711 N. Oak Trafficway
Kansas City