Homeless and needy people treated to celebrity chef's cooking during lunch at Harbor House

Every day at noon, The Salvation Army's Harbor House serves up a free lunch to anyone who's hungry — but on Saturday afternoon, they pulled out all the stops.

Hunt.Fish.Feed, a program organized by the Sportsman Channel, worked with Mediacom to provide venison tacos for more than 100 people, prepared by Chef Scott Leysath, star of one of the Sportsman Channel's cooking shows.

Leysath said the program has fed about 30,000 people since it launched in 2007, using game meat and fish donated by sportsmen.

"It's really rewarding," Leysath said, who also urged hunters to work with shelters to donate meat if they are able.

Leysath said he particularly enjoyed being able to help out homeless veterans, two words he said "should never be together in the same sentence."

Betty Shelton, manager of Harbor House, said she was incredibly grateful to the Hunt.Fish.Feed program, as well as Mediacom, which had 10 workers volunteer to help with the meal preparation.

Inside the kitchen, Leysath worked with 40 pounds of venison, while volunteers corralled massive quantities of toppings, like 5-pound bags of cheese and towering containers of sour cream.

"One time we fed 2,000 people, I think that was about 700 pounds of meat," Leysath mused. "At that point, you're just stirring an enormous vat."

As the food came closer and closer to completion, a line snaking throughout the entire building began to form, waiting to be served — a job taken for the first 15 minutes by state Rep. Sonya Anderson and Springfield Mayor Pro Tem Ken McClure.

Finally, it was time to dig in — Major Mike Mills with Harbor House led the building in a prayer before setting the line in motion.

By 12:30, people were already heading back for seconds.

"I'd never had deer meat before," said Robert Francis. "It was different, but it was definitely good."

On a back patio, Wonders of Wildlife had set up a small mobile exhibit with several animals including a rat snake and a hawk, and several educational stations.

Inside, Robert Hightower was watching the line slowly shrink as people sat down with their meals.

Hightower, a staff monitor at Harbor House on the weekends, said he came through the Harbor House's rehabilitation program, 16 years ago, and it's good to see it still helping people today.

"We keep people focused," Hightower said. "We don't give up."

"They were treated today to a special meal," he continued. "That makes an impact."