Ballance is delighted to announce our platinum sponsorship of Meat the Need.
Since its inception in early 2020, Meat the Need has provided over 725,700 meals. Kiwi farmers are caring and generous members of their communities, so it’s no surprise this farmer-led initiative is building strong support.
Meat the Need is a national charity with a goal of feeding New Zealand families in need across the country.
The charity was founded by South Island based farmers, Siobhan O’Malley of Pukeko Pastures and Wayne Langford. Wayne is a sixth-generation dairy farmer in Takaka, Golden Bay and the national dairy chair for Federated Farmers. He is also well-known as the YOLOFarmer across social media. Together, Siobhan and Wayne discovered there was a need for a charity like Meat the Need, but there was never anyone connecting farmers with the livestock and community organisations.
Its success is dependent on donations from willing farmers, either through cash donations, milk or livestock. Livestock is collected and processed by Silver Fern Farms, and the Meat the Need staff speak to community organisations who feed vulnerable New Zealanders to arrange the safe and regular delivery of meat to them.
There are 26 million animals processed each year in New Zealand. Meat the Need require just 5000 of those animals to prevent New Zealanders going hungry. That’s just 0.019% of our overall meat production.
Meat the Need has recently partnered with Miraka – an indigenous Māori dairy company supplying milk to those in need in the Central Plateau and Waikato regions. Already 92,000 milk meals have been donated to foodbanks, which is fantastic!
Ballance values this opportunity to show our commitment and support for the diverse needs of the communities we operate in. We are proud to align with Meat the Need, and together, play our part in helping New Zealand communities thrive.
For more on Meat the Need or to donate, visit meattheneed.org
