The North Canterbury friends and keen hunters are behind Hunters4Hope, an initiative which provides venison mince to feed those in need via the Rangiora-based charity Hope Community Trust.
As Steve says, it is "almost a responsibility of every person to be a good human".
The two men got to know each other through their partners working together and discovered they had a mutual interest in hunting. They began hunting together and they discussed what other hunters were doing with their surplus venison, questioning if there could be a system established to collect surplus meat, pool it together and donate it to the trust as venison mince.
They gained approval from New Zealand Food Safety, agreement from the trust to accept the mince, they bought a second-hand commercial mincer at a bargain price and placed freezers around the community for hunters to contribute their excess protein.
They also got support from the North Canterbury Hunting Competition and, in June last year, they received 50 deer carcases from hunters at the weigh-in and, with the help of family, friends and members of the local Swannanoa Fire Brigade, all 50 were skinned and boned in one day.
The next day, after four hours of mincing and slicing steak, 870kg of venison mince and 52kg of venison backsteak was delivered to the trust.
In September, Adam and Steve, and several NCHC committee members, volunteered to help prepare and serve a Community Kai meal at the trust, using donated venison from the 2023 competition.
Now two hunting guiding companies have come on board, adding to the amount of venison harvested, and those businesses appreciated the meat was utilised.
About 500kg of mince was supplied each month and the nomination described the pair as "hidden rural champions", along with the other volunteers involved in the project. They enjoyed giving back to the community, while also balancing their own businesses and family life.
Steve reckoned Hunters4Hope was definitely scaleable, with potential to be replicated in other regions. The most important thing was that those involved had the same mindset — "people not doing something to get something for themselves but giving back because they can" — and one of the rules was that no-one could profit from it.
Children involved in the North Canterbury Kids Hunt gave meat to Hunters4Hope, which was done in a special batch making 275kg of mince. It was delivered to the trust with the help of North Loburn School and the children helped unload the meat. That was also a way of getting the next generation thinking about how to give back, he said.
Feedback had been "incredibly humbling" and it was rewarding to see quality protein "going somewhere", rather than just in a hole. They were now also getting contacted by farmers who were having problems with feral deer.
Adam’s father and a group of his older mates volunteered to help out with the initiative and had been dubbed "Dad’s Army".
