The Salvation Army Rotorua foodbank sees more families in need over the holidays. Photo / Andrew Warner
The Salvation Army Rotorua foodbank sees more families in need over the holidays. Photo / Andrew Warner
Increasing food and transport costs are expected to hit families hard this summer when the free school lunch programme closes down for the holidays.
Already, school leaders and the local Salvation Army foodbank are seeing the effects of high living costs on young people’s nutrition and behaviour.
Salvation Army Rotorua officer Hana Seddon said its foodbank saw more families in need during the school holidays.
“One of the reasons for this is that during the school holidays the [Healthy School Lunches Programme] isn’t there ... [and] some family members can’t work because they need to be at home looking after the kids.”
The Rotorua Daily Post is in the second week of its six-week annual Christmas Appeal, raising donations of money and food to support the foodbank through the holidays and beyond.
Salvation Army Rotorua officer Hana Seddon. Photo / Andrew Warner
Aorangi School principal Kairo McLean said times were certainly tough for not only families receiving support or benefits but also for working families who were scraping through paycheck to paycheck.
“We are lucky enough to be part of the lunches in schools programme, which is definitely a huge help for our families not having to worry about making lunches during term time.
“If that was gone or ceased, in my view as principal, I would make it an urgent priority as a school to find the money or use money from other avenues to ensure that food is provided in schools.
"This is vital to supporting students attendance, engagement and reducing incidents in schools due to hungry students not being school-ready due to the lack of or no food at all".
He said another problem for some families was the price of healthy food such as fruit and vegetables.
"It can be cheaper to get the unhealthy or fried food options because it feeds everyone for a reasonable price."
He said not having access to nutritious food had many effects on tamariki, such as trouble concentrating in class, weight issues, and struggling to fight off illnesses which then perpetuated the already low attendance rates in New Zealand schools.
"I just hope, whatever happens with Government next year, that they can see the value of keeping Lunches in Schools - for the sake of our tamariki."
McLean said with increased petrol prices they were also noticing some children being kept at home because there was no gas in the tank to get them to school.
"With the Christmas and extended summer holidays, a lot of families will need support from the foodbank and Salvation Army.
"That's why Fill the Bus is such a great initiative and we will be taking part in that this year with our Aorangi and Western Heights community."
Kaingaroa Forest School principal Marylouise Macpherson-Hall. Photo / Andrew Warner
Kaingaroa Forest School principal Marylouise Macpherson-Hall said some families in the school community were now under "increasing financial strain".
"Fuel cost increases are hitting hard especially when many travel out of the village to access essentials and services."
Macpherson-Hall said employed people were also being hit and some people were seeking increased hours or taking on additional work to continue to provide for their whānau.
"At times the strain is picked up on by our students and they demonstrate negative behaviours due to the stress and strains on the whanau."
Macpherson-Hall said the school’s lunch programme was self-catered with meals cooked onsite.
"Those within our school community/whanau are thankful for the programme and our tamariki enjoy the kai they have.
“It helps our akonga (students) to explore new foods, textures and flavours. A huge benefit is that they can be settled and self-managing, ready with mana for learning.”
Macpherson-Hall said during the school holidays community members donated kai, directly supporting the After School and Holiday Programme.
Mamaku School principal Gary Veysi. Photo / Andrew Warner
Mamaku School principal Gary Veysi said some members of the school community were having to decide between paying for food or paying the rent as living costs continued to pile up.
“Being in a rural community means we’ve got a distance to travel,” Veysi said.
“Rural is awesome, our rents are cheaper but if you work in town the price of petrol is impacting you hugely.
“We’ve also got people who don’t even have a car. If you didn’t have a car you couldn’t drive into town to do groceries and deliveries cost extra.”
Veysi said the school lunches programme helped provide jobs and food for everyone, free from discrimination.
“When we have leftovers we can pass those on to any family who needs it.”
Veysi is also the Rotorua Principals’ Association president and said more kids were coming to school disengaged and he did worry about how children would fare over the school holidays when the Lunches in Schools programme wasn’t available.
“Christmas we know is going to be the most stressful time of year for some families.”
Veysi said he took his hat off to Rotorua’s school principals who were “going above and beyond” to support their students.
“When our students are at our school, we know when they’re not feeling good. We can talk. We can offer to help.”
Over the summer, Veysi said he tried to connect people with the support they needed even if it was difficult to reach out for help.
