Delaware
Delaware hunters have donated over 300 tons of venison to program feeding hungry
Our Daily Bread director on how he uses Hunters Against Hunger venison
Brian Farragher is the executive director of Our Daily Bread in Middletown, one of the recipients of Delaware Hunters Against Hunger venison.
The Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control’s Hunters Against Hunger program has provided over 300 tons of deer meat to needy families and individuals since 1992. Now, in days of uncertainty related to government food assistance, it’s more important than ever.
Delaware hunters participating in the program take their deer to coolers located in each county, where DNREC organizes pickup, processing and distribution to nonprofits statewide.
Chad Lingenfelder of Georgetown is 39 and shot his first deer on a state youth hunt when he was 14, he said. He’s been deer hunting and contributing to the Hunters Against Hunger program with his dad, Christopher Lingenfelder, ever since.
The Lingenfelders are part of DNREC’s deer damage assistance program, which allows them to take more does than others annually in order to protect crops. They hunt more deer than they can eat, and donate to Hunters Against Hunger each season.
“Giving back to our community is important to us,” Chad Lingenfelder said.
Delaware hunters donated 26,372 pounds of deer meat from 809 deer in the 2024-2025 hunting season, according to DNREC spokesman Michael Globetti. Since 1992, over 655,000 pounds of deer meat from 18,349 deer have been donated through the program, equaling roughly 6.62 million meals, Globetti said.
Where the meat goes
The venison goes to 25 nonprofits throughout the state, such as the Elizabeth W. Murphey School, a residential foster care program in Dover. The school typically gets a few hundred pounds of venison from the program every year, and received a little over 300 pounds earlier this month, Executive Director Michael Kopp said.
“The older boys, they like to eat, so when we supplement a regular meal with the venison, it makes everything else go a lot farther,” Kopp said. “One of their favorites is venison jerky – they mix it up, dry it and make jerky sticks for a snack. Venison is a very lean meat, it’s better for them than processed meat.”
Our Daily Bread in Middletown is another recipient of Hunters Against Hunger venison. The nonprofit served about 48,000 meals last year, Executive Director Brian Farragher said, through hot lunches and dinners and a drive-up community pantry.
Our Daily Bread uses the ground venison in dishes like meatloaf and chili and gives it away through the pantry. It’s a popular item, according to Farragher.
“If I put it out this morning, it’s gone by lunch,” Farragher said.
How to donate venison
Only deer harvested in Delaware are accepted in the Hunters Against Hunger program. Out-of-state harvested and road-killed deer are not accepted.
Hunters donating deer must register the animal and include the registration number, hunter’s name and date of harvest on the tag attached to the deer. All deer must be field dressed before being placed in the cooler.
The coolers are self-serve, walk-in units. When you drop off a deer, call the phone number posted at the cooler to report your donation so it can be retrieved and processed.
Coolers are open 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily (unless otherwise noted) at the following locations.
- White Clay Creek State Park, 195 Smith Mill, Newark. This is a temporary mobile location opening Nov. 14 for general firearms season.
- Augustine Wildlife Area, 303 N. Congress St., Port Penn.
- Little Creek Wildlife Area, 3016 Bayside Dr., Dover.
- D&J Custom Cutting, 89 Meyers Dr., Hartly. Open 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. during deer season only.
- Norman G. Wilder Wildlife Area, 782 Kersey Road, Viola.
- Miller’s Butcher Shop, 577 Morgans Choice Road, Wyoming. Open 8 a.m. to 7 p.m., Monday through Saturday.
- Milford Mosquito Control, 1161 Airport Road, Milford.
- Redden State Forest Headquarters, 18074 Redden Road, Georgetown.
- Trap Pond State Park, 33587 Baldcypress Ln., Laurel.
- Gumboro Community Center, 36849 Millsboro Hwy., Millsboro.
Shannon Marvel McNaught reports on southern Delaware and beyond. Reach her at smcnaught@gannett.com or on Facebook.
Humpback whale beaches and dies at Delaware Seashore State Park
The Marine Education, Research and Rehabilitation Institute will perform a necropsy.
A dead humpback whale washed up near Bethany Beach on Jan. 8, according to the nonprofit Marine Education Research and Rehabilitation Institute.
The juvenile male was first seen Jan. 6, floating at sea about 2 miles off the Indian River Inlet, a MERR Facebook post said. The bloated 30-foot whale ultimately beached near a private community in the early afternoon of Jan. 8, the post said.
MERR is attempting to coordinate with the Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control to get equipment to move the whale out of the water and onto the beach to perform a necropsy, the post said. Right now, there isn’t enough information to determine a cause of death.
Delaware saw at least three dead whales last year, in the Indian River Bay, at Delaware Seashore State Park and at Pigeon Point. The first two were humpbacks, while the Pigeon Point whale was a fin whale.
A necropsy on the Delaware Seashore whale found blunt force trauma across its back, indicating it may have been struck by a ship, MERR Director Suzanne Thurman said.
Recently, on Jan. 4, a dead fin whale was found on the bow of a ship at the Gloucester Marine Terminal in New Jersey, which is located in the Port of Philadelphia on the Delaware River.
Shannon Marvel McNaught reports on southern Delaware and beyond. Reach her at smcnaught@gannett.com or on Facebook.
A Pennsylvania man is accused of stealing more than 100 skeletons from a cemetery in Delaware County.
Jonathan Gerlach, 34, of Ephrata, Pennsylvania, is charged with abuse of corpse, criminal mischief, burglary and other related offenses, Delaware County District Attorney Tanner Rouse revealed on Thursday, Jan. 8.
Léelo en español aquí
Between November 2025 and Jan. 6, 2026, 26 mausoleums and underground burial sites had been burglarized or desecrated at Mount Moriah Cemetery, which stretches from Yeadon Borough, Pennsylvania, to Philadelphia, investigators said.
As police investigated the thefts, they caught Gerlach desecrating a monument at the cemetery on Tuesday, Jan. 6, according to officials. Gerlach was taken into custody and investigators executed a search warrant at his home in Ephrata.
During the search, investigators recovered 100 human skeletons from Gerlach’s home as well as eight more human remains inside a storage locker, according to Rouse.
“Detectives walked into a horror movie come to life the other night guys,” Rouse said. “This is an unbelievable scene that no one involved – from myself to the detectives to the medical examiners that are now trying to piece together what they are looking at, quite literally – none of them have ever seen anything like this before.”
Rouse said some of the stolen skeletons are hundreds of years old.
“We are trying to figure out exactly what we are looking at,” Rouse said. “We quite simply at this juncture are not able to date and identify all of them.”
Rouse also said some of the skeletons are of infants and children.
“It is truly, in the most literal sense of the word, horrific,” Rouse said. “I grieve for those who are upset by this who are going through it who are trying to figure out if it is in fact their loved one or their child because we found remains that we believe to be months old infants among those that he had collected. Our hearts go out to every family that is impacted by this.”
Sources also told NBC10 the thefts are related to a similar case in Luzerne County, Pennsylvania. Investigators said they are looking at Gerlach’s online community — including his social media groups and Facebook page — to determine if people were buying, selling, or trading the remains.
Gerlach is currently in custody at the Delaware County Prison after failing to post $1 million bail. Online court records don’t list an attorney who could speak on his behalf.
VENTNOR, N.J. (WPVI) — A Delaware woman is behind bars in connection with a hit-and-run crash in November at the Jersey shore.
(The video in the player above is from previous coverage.)
The incident happened around 6:16 p.m. on Nov. 20 in Ventnor, New Jersey.
READ MORE | Video shows Jersey shore hit-and-run crash that left 92-year-old injured
Police said the 92-year-old victim was struck at Ventnor and Newport avenues. He sustained serious injuries and was transported to an area hospital.
Investigators said the driver, Leslie Myers, 51, of Weldin Park, Delaware, fled the scene after the crash.
She was arrested Wednesday on charges of assault by auto, leaving the scene of an accident and other related offenses.
Myers is being held in the Allegheny County Jail in Pennsylvania, awaiting extradition to New Jersey.
Copyright © 2026 WPVI-TV. All Rights Reserved.
National Park Service will void passes with stickers over Trump’s face
Portland agitators clash with police after 2 shot by federal immigration agent
Pam Bondi dispatches federal prosecutors to Minnesota following Somali fraud allegations
Republican senators hit border, touting tougher security and tax cuts, in 2026 kickoff
Naked woman allegedly assaults deputy while intoxicated, claims she was ‘trying to be a mermaid’
Florida High School Football Rankings: Top 25 teams – Oct. 21
Cleary's 21 help Le Moyne down Central Connecticut State 69-64 in OT
How old is Bo Nix? What to know about Oregon quarterback ahead of 2024 NFL Draft
99th annual Pony Swim held in Virginia
Video: ‘It Didn’t Have to Happen This Way:’ U.Va. Faculty Call for Review of Police Response to Protests
National Park Service will void passes with stickers over Trump’s face
Trump plans to meet with Venezuela opposition leader Maria Corina Machado next week
Trump says meeting Iran’s ‘Crown Prince’ Pahlavi would not be appropriate
Federal immigration agents shoot 2 people in Portland, Oregon, police say
“This is the Berlin Wall moment in Iran”: Masih Alinejad on the nationwide protests
-
Detroit, MI6 days ago2 hospitalized after shooting on Lodge Freeway in Detroit
-
Technology3 days agoPower bank feature creep is out of control
-
Dallas, TX4 days agoDefensive coordinator candidates who could improve Cowboys’ brutal secondary in 2026
-
Health5 days agoViral New Year reset routine is helping people adopt healthier habits
-
Nebraska2 days agoOregon State LB transfer Dexter Foster commits to Nebraska
-
Iowa3 days agoPat McAfee praises Audi Crooks, plays hype song for Iowa State star
-
Nebraska3 days agoNebraska-based pizza chain Godfather’s Pizza is set to open a new location in Queen Creek
-
Entertainment2 days agoSpotify digs in on podcasts with new Hollywood studios