Ronnie Ritter annually averages two international mission trips. Africa, Belize, Haiti, Nicaragua and Ecuador (16 times) are some of his nearly 40 destinations over the past two decades. Ritter took a 10-day trip in June to Brazil.
At home in Hot Springs, the 68-year-old director of Arkansas Hunters Feeding the Hungry stays on mission. The nonprofit organization donated 125,000 packages of Wild Game Snack Sticks last year to help feed hungry school children in 50 of the state’s 75 counties. The majority were delivered by Ritter in his 2008 Dodge Ram truck.
There are two, tasty one-ounce sticks in a package – a healthy protein snack for an elementary-aged child. The sticks are made from wild game, mostly deer donated by the state’s hunters, and mixed with pork.
The need is great. Mission-minded Ritter says one in five Arkansas children experience food insecurity. He hears heartbreaking stories of kids hiding their snack sticks because bullies, other siblings, or even their parents, will take the food for themselves.
“One little boy says he holds the package between his mattresses when he opens it so others in the house can’t hear it being opened,” Ritter says. “He can’t let anyone know or it will be taken (and consumed by bigger hungry people in the house).”
Bob Barringer started Arkansas Hunters Feeding the Hungry in 1999, turning the state’s abundant white-tailed deer population into a renewable food source for the hungry. It was all venison burger back then, distributed at no charge through churches and shelters.
Ritter, riding a 31-year career at International Paper Company, agreed to succeed Barringer in 2009. He and “about 8 volunteers” have grown Arkansas Hunters Feeding the Hungry over the past 15 years with relentless promotion, media appearances, and most notably, the snack sticks program for schools.
“I don’t believe retirement is Biblical,” Ritter says. “I may slow down one day, but I don’t plan to ever fully retire.”
Arkansas Farm Bureau Foundation announced in 2023 a $25,000 donation to the meat stick program and that it would match the designated donations of county Farm Bureaus, individuals, and other entities up to $25,000. Farm Bureau met its goal with the initial donation and pledged matching funds totaling $75,000. The partnership was renewed for 2024.
Hunters are encouraged to donate field dressed wild game, ice chest quartered deer or just “a couple of packs or pounds” of their harvest. Close to 60 participating processors across Arkansas are listed at arkansashunters.org. For more information contact Ronnie Ritter at 501-282-0006.
“We do between 50,000 and 70,000 pounds of burger per year, too” Ritter says. “We give that to local food pantries. With the prices of meat going up at grocery stores, we always get more requests than we can fill.”