The Process
Hunted meat is butchered and registered online via the Game Animal Council Better Hunting portal (We are trialing a process for safe hunted meat with them) and in turn this generates a batch number for recording purposes.

The meat is minced, packaged and labelled by a local registered butcher - the branch pays for these costs. 

Kiwi Harvest collect and distribute the 500g packs of venison mince. 

One of our branch members Alex G, has been trailing the process on a small scale with the support of a private sponsor for the last year.

STOP PRESS NEWS
**In May 2025 we received a $5000 grant from the Queenstown Airport Community Fund to get the project off the ground in a much bigger scale, more details to come**

Kiwi Harvest is an organisation that now supports an average of 825 people a week through the different food programs run by our charity partners across Queenstown, Wanaka and Cromwell.

Why do people need help?
• Cost of living issues such as rent and mortgages are significantly higher here.
• People are living week to week. Unexpected bills coming in like dentist or car repairs means working families and individuals struggle to feed themselves nutritionally over a short period.
• Illness and accidents also can affect people’s self-sufficiency.

Why venison?
Kiwi Harvest receives almost no meat from supermarkets to pass on to our charities. Therefore venison mince is the only source of animal protein we are likely to be able to offer our charity partners in any quantity or consistency into the long term.  

List of recipient charities/agencies:
Queenstown
1. Baskets of Blessings
2. Te Whare Hauora Ki Tahuna
3. Happiness House
4. Salvation Army Queenstown
5. Queenstown Playcentre
6. Wakatipu Youth Trust
7. Central Lakes Family Trust
8. Abbeyeld Retirement Village
9. Plunket Queenstown

Wanaka
1. Community Networks Wanaka
2. Food For Love
3. Kahu Youth Trust

Cromwell
1. Cromwell Foodbank
2. Cromwell Youth Trust

Venison Recipes and how hunters can participate is coming soon...

If you would like to be a sponsor - please contact the branch