The KidsCan Story

I hear upsetting stories every day, but one in particular sticks with me.  There was a little boy who often came to school without food. He was given a KidsCan lunch one day by his teacher, and she saw him putting it into his bag. When she asked why he wasn’t eating it, he said that he really liked the lunch, but he was taking it home to his mother as it was her birthday and there was no food at home. 

This is what Kiwi kids living in hardship are dealing with. It’s why I started KidsCan, back in 2005, in my Auckland garage. I kept hearing media stories about child poverty, and I wanted to find out how bad things were. I sent an unsophisticated survey to 80 low decile schools asking them what their students didn’t have. 

The response was overwhelming. Schools reported that thousands of children were missing out on the essentials that kids should take for granted: three meals a day, warm clothing, good shoes. It was having a huge impact on their education. They were disruptive in class, unable to concentrate because they were hungry. If it was cold or wet, they just wouldn’t show up to school. Parents would keep children home, too embarrassed that they couldn’t provide.  

If I see an issue I think I can help address then I'm going to find a practical way to do it. I think a big part of that comes back to my parents. They were always the first to put their hands up to help anyone in need in their community. So, I quit my job and got a $40,000 grant from The Guardian Trust to get started. KidsCan was born.