Families facing ‘crippling’ back-to-school costs

Students at Te Kura Reo Rua o Waikirikiri give the Kete kai packs the thumbs up. The take-home kete comprise three meals for six people including donated game meat from a team of hunters led by Tui Keenan, who have been given permission by Aratu Forests to hunt in Waimanu Forest.Picture supplied

Students around the region went back to school this week but new research shows many families were unable to afford the essentials.

A nationwide survey done by charity KidsCan, the results of which were released this week, asked schools if poverty was improving or worsening in their communities — 65 percent of the 347 schools who responded said it was getting worse and 15 percent said it was static. Only 6 percent thought it was improving.

Unaffordable housing was a major factor, with schools reporting children growing up in motels, tents and overcrowded homes, including 14 people in one two-bedroom house.

Forty-seven schools reported students who had taken on part-time jobs to help their families survive or left school altogether to work.

Kidscan provides food, shoes, jackets and health items to tens of thousands of students in nearly 900 schools nationwide so they can arrive ready to learn.

Thousands more in 77 schools are waiting for support — KidsCan’s biggest wait list since 2018 — but it cannot reach them without more donations.

Among those needing support are two East Coast schools.

“This is always the hardest time of the year for vulnerable families as they face crippling back-to-school costs, but 2024 may be the toughest yet,” KidsCan’s chief executive Julie Chapman said.

“We urgently need donations from those who can afford to make a difference.”

Ngata Memorial College principal Peter Heron said KidsCan support was “invaluable”.

“Our whānau can find finances a challenge, especially because many children  are raised by grandparents who may not be working.

“Also, our isolation makes it hard to access discount stores which are important for large families.

“We find the KidsCan support invaluable as they help with food for breakfasts and, after Cyclone Gabrielle, supplied camp cookers, blankets, sleeping bags and food packs, which we were able to distribute.”

Meanwhile, a charity providing kai packs to Gisborne schools is returning with the school bells and looking to bolster its offerings, thanks to a new agreement with East Coast company Aratu Forests.

Kete, led by Tui Keenan, is a zero waste food subscription service for school-aged tamariki.

Students pay a heavily discounted membership for locally grown vegetables, seeds and donated game meat. These go into a take-home kete, which creates three meals per week that each feed six people.

Ms Keenan, whose team hunt for the meat, has been given access to hunt in Aratu’s 2000-hectare Waimanu Forest.

That was an opportunity to connect children to their food and it helps families in a cost-of-living crisis, she said.

“It’s exciting for a lot of reasons, including that we are supplying whānau with kai to purchase (except the donated venison which is gifted to the kete), and a weekly source of healthy food.

“The land is sustaining our people through the food sources and we’re thrilled to be able to empower whānau to provide for each other in this way.”

Aratu Forests Ltd is working with Ms Keelan and her team to provide access to one of their forests, where game is often found.

Once game is hunted, it is brought to a local butcher who processes the meat at cost price into everything from mince to salami to sausages to go into the packs.

Aratu chief executive Neil Woods said it was a mutually beneficial partnership the company was excited about.

“This is primarily about providing families with food. It’s an added benefit that it removes some pests from our environment, but our priority is working with Tui to support the families who live here in Gisborne

“Forests provide a wealth of resources and we continue to look for ways that make the most out of what we have behind forest gates, and not just trees.

“Partnerships, such as this one with Tui and her team, play a significant role in making that possible.”