Schoolwork better on a full breakfast

Frontline Christian Church's Jim Cook, pastor Shaun Foster and Gary Larkan hope those helped by the free breakfasts will go on to help others. Photo / Jessica Roden

Kerikeri kids whose families are struggling to make ends meet are going to school with a full stomach thanks to the generosity of a local church.

For the last four weeks, volunteers opened the doors of Frontline Christian Church at 7.30am every weekday to give families a nutritious breakfast free of charge.

Pastor Shaun Foster said need was all around it was just a matter of finding an answer to it.

"We're just doing our bit to try and support families that can't make ends meet," Mr Foster said.

The breakfasts included toast, cereals, hot drinks and fresh fruit. Since starting on June 2, their biggest morning has been 19 children and seven adults.

Church member Jim Cook volunteered most mornings. While people were originally a bit reluctant or embarrassed to use the service, they quickly got over it, Mr Cook said.

"The mums have actually said to me that their kids have been different ... their learning has improved," he said. Pride was the biggest barrier to ask for help, Mr Cook said.

"I hope they will look at it and say somebody helped me in life and they will go on to do the same," he said.

"It's too easy to say the government should do this and that ... we should be looking after our own community," church member and volunteer Gary Larkan said. "Everybody goes through tough times at some stage."

While the breakfast food was paid for by the trust behind the church, they also provided lunches to some students at Kerikeri High School. The church started it two years ago and was originally making sandwiches themselves.

Since then, Kerikeri Bakehouse and The Lunchbox have got on board.

Each morning volunteers collect food from the bakeries, package them up and deliver it to the school. On Friday the church delivered 25 meals.