Julie Chapman: KidsCan CEO on the increasing number of schools requesting financial assistance for families

The leader of a kids charity says it's a bleak situation for some families heading into the school year.  

KidsCan, which offers schools help with uniforms and food, has 70 schools on its wait list.  

Chief executive Dame Julie Chapman told Roman Travers that 20 of those have applied since the middle of last year.

She says they're already supporting kids in more than 1,100 schools and early learning centres. 

LISTEN ABOVE 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Schools are starting up for the new year from this week,
but there's a warning thousands of students will start the
year without the essentials. Kids Can has done a survey
with more than two hundred schools with feedback from teachers
showing that kids are showing up without shoes and jerseys
because families struggle with the costs, and there's concern that
many just won't turn up at all because of the embarrassment.

(00:21):
Kids Can CEO Julie Chapman joins me. Now, morning Julie,
Good morning Roman. What's the situation like this year? How
many schools have been applying for the help they need?

Speaker 2 (00:32):
Oh, look, we've got seventy schools on our waiting list
right now. Twenty have applied to us since the middle
of last year, and we're already supporting children in more
than one thousand, one one hundred schools and early childhood
centers across New Zealand. So it's a pretty bleak picture

(00:57):
as kids head back to school for family who just
don't have enough money to provide those essentials.

Speaker 1 (01:04):
Yeah, and we're not even into the cold part of
the year yet. How does this compare to previous years?

Speaker 2 (01:10):
Yeah? I was you know, I was just thinking about
that while I was waiting to come on, and it
seems to be, you know, something that is talked about
every single year, and it's certainly something that kids can
has been tackling for the past twenty years, and it
doesn't really seem to get any better. And I think

(01:30):
you know, cost of living, food prices, you know, all
of those things really exacerbate it. And so for us,
you know, we're all about education equals opportunity, and so,
you know, really trying to do as much as we can,
but the problem is huge.

Speaker 1 (01:50):
It's hard enough getting kids to go to school, apparently
because of the pandemic and the ongoing effect of that.
How does this though, affect school attendance?

Speaker 2 (01:58):
It does affect school of tea. A lot of you know,
families with children who they kind of for the essentials
for feel a lot of shame. You know, they are
good people, They're not wasting their money. They just simply
don't have enough every week to be able to do
those extra things. You know, at this time of the year,

(02:21):
we know that a lot of teachers and can schools
tell us that kids are wearing you know, the jackets
we provide in the height of summer because it's the
only part of the uniform they have. There's kids coming
with empty food packets even to try and show that
they have had something when they may not have. So,

(02:43):
you know, for us, our goal for this appeal is
to get a thousand kids sponsored so that they can
take advantage of their education that that is offered to
all of us.

Speaker 1 (02:54):
You've mentioned food, the jerseys, the shoes, what other things.
What are the aspects of influencing whether they turn up
or do well at school.

Speaker 2 (03:03):
Yeah, look, it's stationary, it's having enough food at home
before they even get there. It's in sport, it's all
of those things. And so what we provide is the clothing,
the shoes, the food, which gives that little bit of
families just to provide those essentials that hopefully make it

(03:26):
a bit easier for parents and kids to get to school.
It really about making sure that they have that social
inclusion at school starts day one. Any day that's missed
of school is going to have an impact on our
child's learning.

Speaker 1 (03:44):
Yeah. Absolutely, and Julie, thank you so much. Julie Chapman
as the CEO of Kids Can looking for more help there,
just get in touch with them. If you've got some
deep pockets and you'd like to contribute, I'm sure they
could do with the help. For more from Early Edition
with Ryan Bridge, Listen live to news talks they'd be
from Fun weekdays, or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio.