As the waitlist for KidsCan’s food and clothing support doubles, Kiwi school kids bear the brunt of the cost-of-living crisis.
Recently, school principal Joanne* was wandering through her school’s grounds when she spotted a little boy on his own in the playground. When she asked him how he was, he burst into tears.
“He said, ‘I’m lonely, I’m cold, and I’m hungry,’” she recalls. “I took him to my office and got him some food so he could sit in the warm and play with some toys, and just be a kid.”
Joanne* is not the only educator who has become desperately concerned for the children in her care – children she says should be learning and thriving, not struggling to survive, as Aotearoa’s cost-of-living crisis has a major impact on impoverished communities.
While schools are doing their best to help, the sheer number of families they see struggling has reached “devastating” levels, says KidsCan. The New Zealand charity provides thousands of Kiwi kids with food, jackets, shoes and health products, but this year, its waitlist for help has doubled. Twenty-eight schools have applied for KidsCan support this year alone, as food inflation hits a 36-year high.
In what’s now being termed a ‘cost-of-learning crisis’, principals and teachers around the country are reporting higher numbers of children arriving at school hungry and cold, with many being forced to stay home as parents can’t afford the petrol to get them to school.
“We have more and more children that are coming to school every day without kai, or without enough kai, families who don’t have the resources to feed them,” Joanne explains.
“They can’t focus, can’t engage in their learning… At the end of the day, nothing’s going to change if we don’t speak up and go, ‘This isn’t good enough. We need help.’”
As the crisis deepens, schools have taken to feeding children and helping their families access food banks, with fellow parents and staff often reaching into their own pockets to help. One principal said she was bringing in her own children’s shoes so students could participate in subjects like technology where footwear was required.
“We’ve had kids coming into school in socks and sandals, with sopping wet feet,” adds Whanganui principal Belinda Backwell, whose school has just partnered with KidsCan. “So it’s incredible to offer them shoes and jackets to keep them warm and dry throughout the winter. With KidsCan food, fruit in schools, and government lunches we know that they are well fed and that their brains are engaged and ready for learning.
“The support we get means that children are not as sick, that they can be in school every day - and we know as teachers and educators that every day matters. One day off puts them on the back-foot and impacts their learning and their progression.”
KidsCan helps feed 55,000 children in 898 schools – more than a third of all schools nationwide – as well as 206 early childhood centres. But thousands of children in 54 schools and 97 early childhood centres are still waiting for support.
“Many parents in our community are having to make tough choices: ‘I’ve got 20 dollars. How am I going to feed my kids for the week?” says Belinda. “We’ve had parents say to us that they haven’t been bringing the child to school because they haven’t had any food in the house, or they can’t afford petrol… And then on top of that is their poor state of living. Rental properties with damp or mould, children constantly sick because the houses aren’t warm, parents with asthma. There’s not much happiness in that, and that’s where school is a safe place.”
KidsCan is itself under huge pressure from rising costs, with jackets 20% more expensive than last year, and food staples like baked beans up by 39%. Donations are also dropping. Monthly donors – who charities rely on for sustained support – are being forced to cancel to cope with the rising cost of living themselves. That means KidsCan is struggling to support as many new schools as initially planned this year.
“Winter is always a miserable time of year for children in poverty, but this year is especially tough,” says KidsCan CEO Julie Chapman. “We’re helping to feed and clothe more children than ever before, but we can’t keep up with demand, and that’s devastating.”
Belinda says support from charities like KidsCan is becoming more crucial, and with the right support children can thrive.
I think a big part of primary school is trying to get them to love school, so that they want to learn, so they go off to high school and see the value in staying in education. To be able to go out and get a good job and hopefully not repeat that process of living on the poverty line.
“We try to instill in our kids that they’re not defined by their circumstances. They must dream big. They must want better things for themselves and know with hard work they can achieve those dream.”
The Cost-of-Living Crisis is now causing a Cost of Learning crisis. $15 a month helps kids focus on the problems they should be solving. To help support a child in hardship with the essentials like food, visit www.kidscan.org.nz to donate any amount you can.