Julie Chapman: KidsCan Chief Executive on the record number of school-aged children needing help from the organisation

Demand for help from KidsCan has sky-rocketed in the last year.

The charity is urgently appealing for donations as more than 10,000 children in 260 schools await help with food, shoes and clothing.

Many don't qualify for the Government's free lunch scheme.

KidsCan Chief Executive Julie Chapman says the wait-list has grown by more than 150 schools in the last 12 months.

She says securing funding's a challenge.

"We want to make sure that we're not taking them off for a short time, that we're able to support them for as long as they need it."

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Because the number of kids needing food and clothing from
Kids Can has reached a record. More than ten thousand
students from two hundred and sixty schools across the country
are on the charity's wait list. It is the longest
since they're founding in two thousand and five. Kids Can
Chief executive Julie Chapman is with me this morning. Julie,
good morning, Good morning, Ryan. Good to have you on

(00:23):
the show. You're seeing quite a stark change. I mean,
those are the numbers, but you're seeing a change in
the poverty line. It's shifting.

Speaker 2 (00:32):
Yeah, And what we're finding is that more and more
of the schools that are applying to us in middle
income areas, So that cost of living and everything that's
sort of going on right now is starting to bite
in those areas, and families that were just getting by

(00:53):
are now the ones that are actually needing help for
their children.

Speaker 1 (00:56):
What are they needing help with.

Speaker 3 (00:59):
Gosh, it's just a real basics. So it's food. You know,
a lot of schools are reporting to us that you know,
children are going home to nothing to eat, so sometimes
you know, at school is the only time they're getting something.
You know, they're delaying replacing uniforms, pairs of shoes. You know,

(01:23):
shoes are being held together with duct tape. You know,
it's taking longer for people to be able to afford
those things that their kids really need to be able
to get on with learning.

Speaker 1 (01:36):
How long is your you know, in terms of not
numbers the wait list, but how long are people on
the wait list? You know, how long do people have
to wait to get those things?

Speaker 3 (01:45):
Yeah, so at this time last year, we had over
one hundred schools waiting, and now there's one hundred and
fifty more of those schools and early childhood centers.

Speaker 2 (01:57):
Wow.

Speaker 3 (01:58):
And I guess the real child one for us is
being able to get the funding to be able to
take them off the waitlist, because when we do that,
we also want to make sure that you know, we're
not taking them off for a short time. We're able
to support them for as long as then as they
need it.

Speaker 1 (02:15):
I know you guys have partners that you work with
and stuff like that, but you'll obviously be doing an appeal.
Can you let people know about that, Julie.

Speaker 3 (02:23):
Yeah, Look, winters the toughest time for kids, especially the
ones that we support. So we've launched an urgent appeal
asking people to sign up to support a child for
thirty dollars a month or just donate what they can.
And our goal with this is to get as many
kids on that waiting list off as possible so they

(02:45):
can have what they need to get to school and learn.

Speaker 1 (02:48):
How do people help? What's the website, Julie.

Speaker 3 (02:52):
They can go to KidsCan dot org dot nz and
have a lot there all the ways that they can
help and lock also so if you're not able to donate,
just bread the words. You know, it's really important that
we support the education of all children in New Zealand
and they really, you know, the kids that are waiting
really need that support right now.

Speaker 1 (03:13):
Keep up the good work, Julie, Thank you for your time.
Julie Chapman, the CEO, chief executive at kids Can. They
do brilliant work. And for more from News Talks B listen.

Speaker 3 (03:23):
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Speaker 1 (03:25):
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