KidsCan has been supporting New Zealand children since 2005.
We work with low-decile schools and low-equity early childhood education centres across New Zealand. We provide your tamariki with food, clothing and health products to help them participate in learning.
KidsCan works in partnership with schools because you know the best way to meet the needs of your tamariki. We provide free food, clothing and health products for children in Years 1-13.
Shelf-stable, nutritious food including canned fruit, pasta, soup, muesli bars and baked beans is delivered once per term. Schools then distribute this to children needing breakfast, lunch or snacks. Fleece-lined jackets are given to the entire school roll to encourage inclusiveness, and shoes and socks are provided for the number of students you identify as needing them. We also provide basic health products such as hand sanitiser, nit combs, nit treatment and period resources.
The early years are a child’s most formative and KidsCan wants to support our underserved kids in their learning journeys. We support low-equity early childhood education centres by providing free food, clothing and health products.
This universal programme gives all children in your centre their own fleece-lined jacket, shoes and socks, nit treatment products, daily fruit and cooked lunch. These fresh meals are prepared at your centre, using healthy ingredients sent to your centre each week. Centres can choose from a range of recipes provided by KidsCan including meal options such as chicken stir-fry, veggie curry and lasagne. Our recipes are endorsed by the Heart Foundation and loved by tamariki!
We also have a separate food programme which is funded by the New Zealand Government for up to 10,000 preschoolers. The KidsCan ECE Food for Kids Programme is a free food programme offered to 2 to 5-year-olds attending eligible early childhood education (ECE) centres around Aotearoa.
KidsCan believes that education is a child’s ticket out of poverty, and gives them the opportunity for a better future. But kids can’t learn when they are cold, wet and hungry.
So we partner with schools and early childhood centres across New Zealand to give the 1 in 8 Kiwi kids affected by poverty the essentials: food, clothing and health products.
Kids can’t learn when they’re hungry. We provide nutritious, hearty food to our partner schools, which is then targeted and distributed to hungry children every day. Food items we deliver include bread, yoghurt, fruit, scroggin, baked beans, pasta, soup, and kids’ favourite - butter chicken with rice.
KidsCan provides food for an average of 60,000 kids each day.
We know that on wet, cold days some kids do not come to school, or they turn up wet and cold, not in a position to learn. KidsCan provides brand new warm jackets and quality footwear and socks to school children. Our jackets are distributed to the entire school roll, so all kids feel the same sense of dignity and inclusion, and our shoes and socks are given to those needing them.
In 2023 KidsCan distributed over 94,000 jackets and shoes.
To help keep kids healthy and in the classroom learning, we provide schools with products including hand sanitiser and nit treatment. We also give students access to period care educational materials in a youth-informed model designed to reinforce dignity and respect.
Download and view our teaching resources for schools here.
A quality early childhood education has a lasting impact on children’s wellbeing, learning, behaviour, and health. We partner with low-equity early childhood education centres to provide all preschoolers with freshly prepared meals, jackets and shoes as well as basic health items. This helps our tamariki have the best start possible in their learning journeys.
KidsCan supports over 10,000 preschoolers across New Zealand.
We provide nutritious breakfast, snack and lunch foods to 60,000 hungry school kids every day.
We keep school children warm and dry with a fleece-lined jacket and sturdy shoes and socks.
We provide basic health items education to school kids.
We give preschoolers a jacket, shoes and socks, health products and daily healthy meals.
We provide nutritious breakfast, snack and lunch foods to 60,000 hungry school kids every day.
We keep school children warm and dry with a fleece-lined jacket and sturdy shoes and socks.
We provide basic health items education to school kids.
We give preschoolers a jacket, shoes and socks, health products and daily healthy meals.
