More than 300 Santas invaded The Square last week to raise awareness of the "devastating" poverty facing New Zealand children.
The Kidscan Great Santa run involved walking or running up to 3km dressed in all your favourite Christmas gear. The event was staged in 16 locations across the country with each entrant receiving a free Santa suit and goodie bag when they reached the finish line.
MASH Trust IT manager and event organiser Grant Mantle said the event had exceeded all expectations. "It was a total success and beyond anything we'd anticipated. The support from both the public and the Santa's was amazing."
This is the first time Palmerston North has hosted this annual event which has raised more than $30,000 nationwide for KidsCan. "It came to us just as an idea that Palmerston North could do it too. We wanted to help promote a non-profit organisation that's bigger than ourselves," said Mr Mantle.
Destination Manawatu approached MASH to hold the event in conjunction with the Christmas Tree lighting and said it was one of their biggest turnouts "ever".
KidsCan supports around 18 low decile schools in the Manawatu region and aims to meet the physical and nutritional needs of children. Statistics show one in four Kiwi kids live in poverty without access to basic necessities. Out of the 10,585 children fed by KidsCan across New Zealand, a large majority are needing this food five times a week.
A new report evaluating child poverty in New Zealand was released earlier this week stating that a quarter of New Zealand children were under the standard 60 per cent income poverty line and, 10 per cent of those youngsters were in severe and persistent poverty.
Green Party health spokesman Kevin Hague said the Government was urged by health officials as far back as 2009 to take measures targeting child poverty.
"That recommendation went absolutely nowhere. The National Government has chosen to ignore repeated recommendations ... favouring a head in the sand approach instead."
Prime minister John Key appeared on TVNZ's Breakfast show on Monday morning and said he did not believe child poverty was getting worse under his government's leadership.