FAQ's.

Yes. And it’s not just KidsCan saying it.  

In 2017 a UNESCO policy paper, Reducing global poverty through universal primary and secondary education, showed that education is key to breaking poverty in all its forms, everywhere.   

This is why KidsCan is intent on providing children with the essentials so they can attend school, focus and learn. Poverty keeps children away from education as families often can’t afford the fuel or transport to get them to school. Or parents keep kids at home as they feel shame at not being able to provide a good lunch or the correct uniform. But equally, children in poverty who do make it to school may arrive too cold, wet and hungry to learn – sometimes not having had dinner the night before. So by providing warm clothes, delicious food, good quality shoes and health items like nit treatment, KidsCan ensures children have everything they need to start the day fed, comfortable, healthy and able to focus in class.  

We understand that a whole range of factors make up what we recognise as poverty. Poor housing, lack of access to health services, unemployment and low wages all contribute to the unlevel playing field. However, by removing some barriers to accessing good education, we can ensure school is a constant and stable factor in a child’s life. And if they can attend school and thrive there, if it can be a place where they will always have their needs met, they have a far greater chance of getting a good education and looking forward to a brighter future.

We work very closely with the schools we support as the teachers and staff know their students best. They let us know what products the children are going without and how many need assistance. The school then distributes these products to the children in need which helps to ensure that our programmes are being delivered in a targeted way.​ 

The government indeed provides school lunches, which is a great initiative. But sadly, there is still a lot of demand for our services.

We are still providing hot meals to hundreds of schools; some don't meet the government lunch programme criteria but have children who need help.

And lunch is only part of the picture. We're still delivering breakfast and snacks to our partner schools, ensuring children have a whole day's worth of food. It's important that children are nourished at the start of the day too – especially as they may arrive not having had breakfast. In some cases, they might not have eaten the night before either.

Our help extends beyond food to ensure children are as well-equipped as possible to learn. Of course, children can't focus in class if they are hungry – but nor can they learn if they are cold, wet or unwell. That's why we also provide fleece-lined rain jackets, sturdy shoes, nit treatment and other health items.

We currently support 206 ECEs and want to support more that are on our waitlist this year to give more kids the best chance of a good education from an early age.

We also support 898 schools nationwide.

Schools with children who would benefit from KidsCan support can apply to access our programmes. Once a school goes through our application process and we have adequate funding to support them on an ongoing basis, they can order food, clothing and health products for their students.

Shelf-stable, nutritious food, including fruit pottles, pasta, soup, scroggin, yoghurt and baked beans is delivered to schools once per term. Schools then distribute this to children needing breakfast, lunch or snacks.

Fleece-lined jackets are provided to the entire school roll to encourage inclusiveness, and shoes and socks are given to students identified by the school as needing them. Health products including hand sanitiser and nit treatment are ordered as needed.

Early childhood education centres that hold a category equity index 1-4 and have a community-based authority, can apply to become a KidsCan partner ECE. Once an ECE finishes our application process, and we have adequate funding to support them on an ongoing basis they can access to our free food, clothing and health products.

KidsCan support in an ECE is universal, meaning all children receive the products. Children receive their own fleece-lined jacket, shoes and socks, gumboots, nit treatment products and daily snacks and healthy lunches. These lunch recipes are created in partnership with The Heart Foundation and include meals such as chicken stirfry, veggie curry and lasagne. 

We recently also began introducing meals with a Pacific flavour such as Chop Suey, which we developed alongside The Heart Foundation’s Pacific Heartbeat team. We hear these recipes are a big hit with the kids! 

All monthly donors are emailed or posted their annual tax receipt by the end of April for the previous financial year. Please ensure that we have your correct email or postal address. If you have new details, send us an email at info@kidscan.org.nz and we can update this for you.

When you make a one-off donation on the KidsCan website you’ll be emailed a tax receipt automatically at the time of your donation.

For more information on claiming donation tax credits visit the IRD website here.

Thank you for reaching out to KidsCan, we are so sorry to hear this and appreciate this must be a difficult situation for you and your family. 

KidsCan offers food (clothing and health items) to its 898 partner schools. We also supply 206 early childhood centres (ECEs) nationwide, and our ECE programmes are universal, ie every child receives our products. In schools, they provide the items to children who require them. Our food programme works in conjunction with other food programmes in schools such as Fruit in Schools and KickStart (Weet-Bix and milk for breakfast). Do you know if your child’s school is a KidsCan partner school and/or receives these other food programmes? If so, your child will be able to receive food items from the food programme coordinator for the school. If not, have a chat with the school staff and encourage them to apply for support from these food programmes, including KidsCan, via this link https://www.kidscan.org.nz/get-school-and-ece-support/#applyforkidscansupport and perhaps consider reaching out to Variety who offer a different model of support for children https://www.variety.org.nz/