Two tonnes of venison destined for foodbank

A "tremendous effort" by the Pacific Island community and Southland charity Deer To Care processed over two tonnes of venison meat to support the Salvation Army foodbank in North Otago.

Deer to Care, founded by southern hunters Stu O’Neill, Southland Police senior detective Tim Cook and Niagara manager Wesley Baratcart, aims to tackle food insecurity by donating high quality, locally sourced venison.

The non-profit’s unique model combines hunting, pest control and community support to create a reliable supply chain of nutritious meat.

The Southland charity initiative Deer to Care co-founder Stu O’Neill returned to his hometown to work with the Oamaru Pacific Island Community Trust (OPICT) in providing a whopping 18,500 meals of free-range venison for those in need in the Waitaki District.

Over 30 men and women including meat industry workers came along to support the cause helping to process the wild game of 72 deer and 20 pigs on Sunday in Enfield.

"Along with the tremendous effort from the OPICT and Jarron Farmer who provided his Enfield farm and Hamish Thompson from the Kurow Valley hunting competition who allowed us to take all the deer away, we were able to achieve it," he said.

Although Mr O’Neill funded the meat processing and packaging costs personally he preferred to keep the focus on the team effort on the "big mission" of the meat workers efforts to process the wild-game.

"The OPICT really made this happen, it’s a credit to them, what they did was awesome," Mr O’Neill said.

Mr O’Neill, who grew up on a farm in Enfield with his parents and three siblings, said a handful of his Enfield primary school mates also showed up on the day to pitch in.

"It was a really good team environment, everybody worked really well as a team, that was the secret to success," he said.

OPICT members Silou Temoana, Tania Pamaka and Hana Fanene-Taiti were integral in co-ordinating volunteers and organising a barbecue to help feed all the volunteers who worked from 5pm to 9.30pm to process the meat.

Mrs Temoana said it was "such a blessed evening" and they were glad they completed the job.

Salvation Army captain Jocelyn Smith said being able to provide meat in their food parcels was a "blessing" and helped reduce "food insecurity".

"Having healthy meat in our food parcels is such a blessing for people because they’ve given up buying it because of the rising food costs," she said.

Mrs Smith said Mr O’Neill approached her several weeks ago saying he wanted to "step it up a notch" and provide the meat further north and in his former hometown of North Otago.

"Initially he sort of promised 800kg then he doubled it ... the work he is doing with Deer to Care and what the OPICT have achieved for those in need in the community is really amazing," Mrs Smith said.

The meat was transferred to Churchy’s Meats in Gore, where it will be minced and then sit in freezers in Bluff before being delivered throughout the Waitaki Valley District, Mr O’Neill said.

He said he was "exhausted" after the two-day mission of processing and packaging the venison but "there was no time to rest" as there was more work to be done.