For the last week the Northern Advocate has run letters from Northland leaders with their ideas on how child poverty should be tackled.
Our Dear John campaign was kicked off after Prime Minister John Key said he wanted fresh ideas for how to tackle the issue.
We have run letters from those at the coal-face of child poverty in Northland such as Lou Davis, Buddhi Wilcox, Kim Peita and Chris Farrelly.
Today we will present the letters we published, and subsequent comments and letters from readers, to Whangarei's National MP Shane Reti who will pass them along to the Prime Minister's office.
On Monday we spoke to a Northland mum who knows far too well what it is like to live in poverty.
Charlotte Matthews still cries when she thinks about how poor she and her partner used to be.
Five years ago when Ms Matthews was pregnant with her son Keet she was living off just a $20 veggie box a fortnight.
"Even now I cry thinking about how broke I actually was," Ms Matthews said.
The couple lost their car because they could not afford the payments and did not have the money for a landline or internet.
In fact, they were lucky the power never got turned off.
Her partner had been forced to leave his job for safety reasons which left Ms Matthews, who worked 30 hours a week at Cobb & Co, the sole earner.
"I think the worst is when you were living off just potatoes," she said.
"I could pay rent and power and have a little bit left to pay for food for the week".
They lived on one veggie box from the local shop in Tikipunga, though Ms Matthews feels fortunate she was given one meal a day from her work.
If her sister had not given her cloth nappies Ms Matthews said she would not have been able to afford to put Keet into nappies all the time.
"I breastfed my son because I couldn't afford formula," she said.
"I was in a lot of pain breastfeeding but you grin and bear it when you know you can't afford the formula."
It did not get easier for the couple until Ms Matthews' partner got a supermarket job through a neighbour, which eventually led to other things.
Even now, Ms Matthews still fears slipping back into poverty.
"I don't ever want to be back like that again," she said.
"It's one of the worst feelings".