The concept is pretty simple, yet the output and the effort is incredible: collect donations of domestic and wild game meat from ranchers and hunters, and donate it to veterans and their families.

I first got to see the Veterans Meat Locker in action a few years ago at the VFW bar on the Billings Southside. It was an impressive bag of meat- whether beef, venison, goose, or elk. The concept has since grown all across Montana, with several Veterans Meat Locker programs across the state.

Over the weekend the Veterans Meat Locker handed out over 2,000 pounds of meat to more than 100 veterans.

Hats off to KTVQ-TV for covering their 106-mile loop in Carbon County. Jerad Werning grew up in Edgar and deployed overseas with the Army National Guard. He told Q2 that a veterans meat giveaway in Carbon County made a lot of sense:

I figured it would be a good place. We get a lot of donations from Carbon County of wild game and beef, so why not give back to the community? We just planned to do a loop to hit all of Carbon County as much as we could.

Here's how the program works:

We pay for the processing at a reduced fee and pick up the meat from the processors. The meat is stored frozen and distributed to Veterans at meat giveaways or on a as need basis. That veteran must be able to provide valid proof(VA card, DD214, any other valid form) of being a veteran, once proof is displayed, we furnish the veteran with an amply amount of meat, free of charge, to sustain him or her for a couple weeks.

Click here to follow the Veterans Meat Locker and to find out more info.

 

****** 2000 LBS TO 108 VETERANS *******

What an awesome giveaway in Carbon County! Great job Jerad Werning for...

Posted by Montana Veteran's Meat Locker on Sunday, January 24, 2021

 

 

More From Montana Talks