An Auckland mother is so short of money to buy food, she often resorts to feeding her four children pancakes made only with flour and water – one of the many hardship cases prompting a national appeal to help feed hungry kids.
"Most weeks we have less than $100 to spend on food and so I have to use my brain and come up with something for them," says Evelyn Maitland. "We eat a lot of canned food and soups, and make pancakes with only flour and water."
Although her husband works full-time, Maitland (not her real name which has been changed for privacy) says the family is struggling under the weight of bills that need to be paid - a situation made worse ever since she had to give up work to care for two of her children, one with severe asthma and the other an epilepsy sufferer.
Her story comes as the KidsCan charity says more than 140,000 Kiwi children - like the Maitlands hit hard by New Zealand's soaring cost of living - don't always know where their next meal is coming from.
"Up to 144,000 children - 15 per cent of all Kiwi kids - are going without the fuel they need to learn, play and be happy," says KidsCan CEO and founder Julie Chapman.
"Parents of these children are despairing as rent and bills swallow what they bring in every week."
The situation has become so desperate that KidsCan has launched an urgent appeal and is asking people to contribute $15 - enough money to feed a child in need with a nutritious breakfast and morning tea for a week.
Maitland is a parent at an early childhood centre supported by KidsCan and says the charity has been more than a great help. "I feel real aroha from them - they've provided hot meals, given us free shoes and warm jackets and have helped out with food parcels which have been a real blessing."
She says since the family was hit by Covid things have got even tougher. As a parent trying to cope, it has been mentally overwhelming finding the money to pay for food and other necessities for her children (three boys aged eight, five and three and a seven-year-old daughter) - as well as pay household bills which continue to pile up.
On top of these struggles, Maitland is coping with their illnesses. Her three-year-old has bad asthma, her five-year-old son suffers from epilepsy and both have been in and out of Starship Children's Hospital for treatment in recent months.
"My five-year-old had his first seizure at pre-school," she says. "But last week he had one at home and stopped breathing. My husband was giving him CPR while I was on the phone getting instructions on how to do it. He's okay now, but at the time I was crying, I was in a state of panic."
She says petrol and parking costs from the constant trips to the hospital has also been a huge drain on their money.
Despite her situation, Maitland still thinks the family is lucky. Since 2017 they have been living in a state house (prior to that the family spent a year crammed into the sitting room in her mother's home) and have received a lot of help from community groups and organisations like KidsCan.
"Times are very hard, but I believe we can get through it. I like to look at things in a positive light and believe the help we've had is not a hand-out, but a hand-up."
Meanwhile Chapman says KidsCan are already helping feed a record 44,000 children in more than a thousand schools and early childhood centres nationwide.
"One (school) principal has told us that whānau are at breaking point," she says. "For families in poverty, the money runs out every week. With no savings and no extra money, every price hike hurts while several early childhood centres tell us they're seeing more babies being enrolled, as new mums are forced back to work early.
"Staff are picking kids up so their parents have petrol for the weekend and washing their clothes as the laundromat becomes a luxury; teachers are dipping into their own pockets – because how can you let a child go hungry?
"Some (parents) have no petrol to bring their children to school. Staff have noticed a change in their students' behaviour, with kids 'not even wanting to try' and teachers are exhausted from trying to help."
Chapman says KidsCan has had a spike in schools and early childhood centres asking for help – but it's harder to reach them because the charity has experienced a drop in its monthly donor numbers for the first time since she started KidsCan in her garage 17 years ago.
"Some of our regular supporters are finding the disposable income that they spent helping others has been eroded by the cost-of-living," she says. "We need to see big, bold policy to tackle the root causes of poverty, but we shouldn't underestimate the difference we can make now by wrappiong support around families in hardship.
Chapman says it's the little things that can set children up for a big future - "and when a child can be all they want to be, we all win."
To donate visit 15for15.org.nz
KidsCan's principal partner Meridian Energy is proud to be backing this appeal.