CONCORD, N.H. – When they pass the plate at Center Harbor Christian Church, it’s not uncommon for some parishioners to fill it with deer meat.

“We’ve gotten a lot of it,” the Rev. Robert Farah said. “A few thousand pounds through the years.”

Hunters among his parish of about 125 people hve donated deer, moose, fish, even a bear, and those who use the church’s food pantry seem to like it.

“I never expected it,” said one recipient, Jason. “It was awesome.”

The church’s food pantry is only one of the many pantries, soup kitchens, homeless shelters, detoxification centers and elderly programs in northern New England that offer wild game, thanks to an increasing number of hunters who donate their kill.

The Manchester food bank, the only one in the state, started its Hunt for the Hungry program about six years ago, and warehouse manager Michele Garron said it has received more than 10,000 pounds of game, between 500 and 4,000 pounds a year, depending on the success of hunters.

“We can always use more,” she said. “It’s a premium item at the food bank.”

Bill Hamilton, who cooks at Serenity Place, a drug and detoxification center in Manchester, said he has served game as steaks, stews, meatloaf and other recipes and people seem to like it.

“A lot of people, it’s the first time they’ve ever had it,” he said.

In Maine, there is Hunters for the Hungry as well as Sportsmen Against Hunger, which is operated by the Maine chapter of Safari Club International, a hunting organization.

Some Vermont hunters have been donating meat the past few years, but there is no organized effort, according to John Hall of the state Fish and Wildlife Department.

Sandy Hosmer of the Safari organization said the idea started in Texas about 11 years ago, and Maine introduced it about seven years ago.

The amount donated has increased from about 3,500 pounds in 1997 to about 8,000 pounds last year.

The donations mostly are deer, moose and wild birds, but there have been bear, caribou from Canada and elk, along with buffalo. Once in a while, state wildlife agencies donate road kill or animals seized from poachers.

Under the Maine program, hunters contact a local butcher, tell him they want to donate the meat, and most butchers will waive the processing charge or offer a reduced fee.

Rick LaFlamme, of Arundel, Maine, is one of those butchers, donating his time for the past four years. He worked on about 1,000 pounds the first year, and already has done about 2,500 this year, including ive whole deer donated last week.

“More and more people are becoming aware of it,” he said of the programs. “People are really pushing it.”

And when a hunter comes in to have his kill butchered, he asks if they want to donate some of the meat “and about half do,” he said.

Guy LaBranche, of Sanford, Maine, read about the idea in a newspaper and donated his deer. His family doesn’t like deer meat, so he had to either donate his kill or stop hunting, he said.

He specifies that it be sent to a church shelter in Alfred.

Mark Lank, of Kennebunk, Maine, and his son, Mark Jr., 14, each shot a deer this year and donated both of them. And if his 12-year-old daughter, Danielle, had shot one, she would have donated it, too.

“I know it’s going some place that really needs it,” Lank said.