Hunters aim to feed struggling families
“We wanted to build on that so hunters can donate their venison to more food banks, knowing their Koha is going to benefit people who need it."
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A new charity is being launched to provide needy families with high quality protein through Kiwi Harvest.
The We Hunt Food Charitable Trust is the latest initiative from the Fiordland Wapiti Foundation and allows hunters to gift the venison they harvest, to help provide food security for their local communities.
The Fiordland Wapiti Foundation has a long history of helping kiwi families access good quality food. During Covid, it organised the donation of 18 tonnes of prime venison to food banks around New Zealand.
Fiordland Wapiti Foundation General Manager Roy Sloan says that early initiative was an eye opener.
“The project showed the need for donations of top-quality protein to struggling families, and even today we continue to supply food banks in Auckland with meat processed from deer we cull in Fiordland,” Sloan says.
“We wanted to build on that so hunters can donate their venison to more food banks, knowing their Koha is going to benefit people who need it.
“The current economic situation and rising unemployment is putting pressure on families, forcing growing numbers to turn to food banks for help.
“The food banks tell us that the hardest food product to source is red meat. The We Hunt Food Trust has the solution,” Sloan says.
We Hunt Food Trust will be donating wild-harvested venison to Kiwi Harvest in Southland for distribution to agencies who feed those in need. We are extremely proud to partner with Kiwi Harvest and look forward to seeing the positive impact this initiative will have on local communities.
“The meat will all be processed professionally, and is of course, from healthy free- range animals,” Roy Sloan says.
The meat donations also benefit conservation by helping to protect native forest that wild deer graze on.
“At the moment, deer numbers are high, and hunters are under pressure to control populations to help protect the environment. While they are doing well by culling thousands of animals, they are concerned healthy free-range venison is going to waste.”
Roy Sloan says the We Hunt Food Charitable Trust is the result.
“We just wanted to join the dots, and it makes perfect sense to donate the excess venison to those who need it.
“It is a win-win situation – the Trust can provide needy families with meat by giving it to food banks while helping achieve our conservation goal of reducing deer pressure on native forests.
The We Hunt Food Charitable Trust will be launched at Hunting and Fishing’s Invercargill store on March 12 from 11am to 1pm. Formal launch 1230pm.
This is a community project that will need community support to be successful and appropriately, one of our partners The Grocer will be on the barbeque cooking venison to mark the event.
“We want people to be able to taste for themselves the quality of the venison the Trust is providing so they can see the nutritional benefits of the protein families will be getting through food banks,” Sloan says.