"KidsCan provides that extra food support in a very targeted way to those children who are most vulnerable.
"We take a no blame approach to this and work with each school to make sure we get to the children most in need."
Arataki School principal Shelley Blakey said it had different initiatives with up to 30 children a day getting breakfast and 10 to 20 given lunch.
It would struggle without support from KidsCan and other organisations, she said.
"We think it's important to ensure the child is ready to learn and we can do that if their bellies are full.
"I don't know how long we could sustain the funding ourselves as a school."
Gate Pa School principal Richard Inder said 12 to 20 children attended its breakfast club and St Vincent de Paul Loaves and Fishes dropped off eight lunches a day.
The projects were so important that if they stopped, the school would have to fund them itself.
"There would be less of something else in the school. We just realise to keep learning, behaviour and achievement all on track, you have to have food in your tummy first."
Te Puke Intermediate principal Jill Weldon said, last year, it was feeding about 30 students daily.
"Many of these students had some lunch from home but not enough for growing adolescents, so they would have eaten their lunch at interval.
"It might be said that some students were too lazy to make lunch at home or are fussy about what's on offer at home. We don't ask questions, to be honest, if they are hungry we feed them."
KidsCan also supplies it with school shoes, clothing and medical supplies such as sanitary provisions and head lice products.
"It saves us money in our ops grant as we don't have to spend money on these items."
Merivale School principal Jan Tinetti told the Bay of Plenty Times last month half of the children on its roll, about 70, were fed each morning at the breakfast club.
Ms Tinetti said, some days, she needed lunches for up to 30 children - 20 per cent of her school roll of 145 children.
"We're not seeing it get any better. If anything, it's getting worse."
St Vincent de Paul Loaves and Fishes co-ordinator Jill O'Brien said last term they supplied lunches to eight schools.
The public health nurses also called them to supply out of town primary and intermediate schools.
A standard lunch could include two sandwiches with fillings like ham and cheese and jam plus one snack bar and one piece of fruit, she said.
On March 18, the Government voted down two bills which aimed to tackle the problem - one by Metiria Turei and one by David Shearer. Ms Turei's Food in Schools Bill would have provided for state-funded breakfasts and lunches at all decile one and two schools.
Social Development Minister Anne Tolley defended that decision and said it would be a waste of taxpayer money.
"It took a blanket approach to a complex situation and would not have been effective.
"The vast majority of kids are fed by their parents, so providing lunch for every child every day would be a waste of taxpayer money, which could be better spent targeting resources towards the children and households who need it most."
The Government had funded the expansion of the Kickstart Breakfast programme in schools regardless of decile so it was not surprising more schools were taking it up as a result, she said.
Green Party co-leader Ms Turei said the Government was completely out of touch with the reality of life for many New Zealand children.
"It's true that the vast majority of kids are fed a good lunch every day, but too many children aren't. We think if kids are going hungry all day at school, then we should feed them.
"It's remarkably simple and actually not that expensive."
