Real Life: ‘Thousands’ more kids needing handouts than this time last year – KidsCan CEO

KidsCan CEO Julie Chapman says the waiting list for its lunch programme now comprises more than 230 schools and preschools. Photo / Alex Burton

“Thousands and thousands” more Kiwi kids are needing daily support like meals and clothing than just a year ago, the CEO of KidsCan says – with the cost of living crisis wreaking financial pain for families in need.

Julie Chapman – who in 2005 founded the children’s charity, which now feeds 60,000 children nationwide every day – says the waiting list for its lunch programme now comprises more than 230 schools and preschools.

In an interview with Newstalk ZB’s Real Life with John Cowan on Sunday night, Chapman said some of the stories from the frontline of the fight against child poverty are harrowing.

“Schools are telling us that children are sometimes sharing a pair of shoes; one child will come to school one day, and another child will come the next day,” she told Cowan.

“We’re seeing kids that go home to nothing in the fridge. Sometimes the meal that they’ve had at school is the only meal that they’ll get until the following day. There’s just hopelessness.”

Chapman says inflation is making it harder than ever to make ends meet.

“We see huge material hardship – that’s the space that we make the most difference in providing those things like shoes and jackets. But it’s gotten worse over the past couple of years off the back of the cost of living crisis. We’re hearing that and seeing that.

“There are a lot of families that are making choices no one should have to make – between food, medical, putting petrol in the car. Many people are just living in a deficit every week.”

The meals KidsCan provides to children in hardship are needed now more than ever, Chapman says. But the charity is struggling to keep up with demand.

“We’ve got the biggest waiting list that we’ve had for a very long time right now – over 80 schools and over 150 early childhood centres,” she said.

“Your brain doesn’t switch on to learn if you’re hungry. And so we started providing very basic foods in schools, much more substantial in early childhood centres, getting to those younger kids.”

“We are seeing now, even compared to this time last year, it’s thousands and thousands more children that need that daily support.”

Chapman is frustrated by the attitude from some New Zealanders that families in need are abusing the system by not using the support they receive for the right purposes.

She says it’s “even more difficult” to stave off poverty when people are making judgements about why you are facing hardship, or that you’re “wasting money”.

“There are always going to be some people who don’t do the right thing by their kids, but the majority of families that I’ve met over the last 19 years do want the best for their kids, and they are doing the best.

“The reason that KidsCan exists is education. It’s education that equals opportunity. And even if there are some doing the wrong thing – and it is a minority – It’s not the children’s fault. It’s like a lottery.

“If we want New Zealand to be a better place … think of it as enlightened self-interest: what’s good for New Zealand is making sure all kids get an opportunity to have an education. That’s the path out of poverty.”

• Real Life is a weekly interview show where John Cowan speaks with prominent guests about their life, upbringing, and the way they see the world. Tune in Sundays from 7:30pm on Newstalk ZB or listen to the latest full interview here.