Latest / Early Edition with Ryan Bridge / Julie Chapman: KidsCan CEO on the increasing number of schools requesting financial assistance for families

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Julie Chapman: KidsCan CEO on the increasing number of schools requesting financial assistance for families · Early Edition with Ryan Bridge

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Schools are starting up for the new year from this week,
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  Speaker 1: but there's a warning thousands of students will start the
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: year without the essentials. Kids Can has done a survey
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  Speaker 1: with more than two hundred schools with feedback from teachers
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  Speaker 1: showing that kids are showing up without shoes and jerseys
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  Speaker 1: because families struggle with the costs, and there's concern that
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  Speaker 1: many just won't turn up at all because of the embarrassment.
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  Speaker 1: Kids Can CEO Julie Chapman joins me. Now, morning Julie,
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  Speaker 1: Good morning Roman. What's the situation like this year? How
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  Speaker 1: many schools have been applying for the help they need?
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  Speaker 2: Oh, look, we've got seventy schools on our waiting list
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  Speaker 2: right now. Twenty have applied to us since the middle
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  Speaker 2: of last year, and we're already supporting children in more
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  Speaker 2: than one thousand, one one hundred schools and early childhood
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  Speaker 2: centers across New Zealand. So it's a pretty bleak picture
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  Speaker 2: as kids head back to school for family who just
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  Speaker 2: don't have enough money to provide those essentials.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, and we're not even into the cold part of
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  Speaker 1: the year yet. How does this compare to previous years?
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  Speaker 2: Yeah? I was you know, I was just thinking about
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  Speaker 2: that while I was waiting to come on, and it
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  Speaker 2: seems to be, you know, something that is talked about
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  Speaker 2: every single year, and it's certainly something that kids can
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  Speaker 2: has been tackling for the past twenty years, and it
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  Speaker 2: doesn't really seem to get any better. And I think
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  Speaker 2: you know, cost of living, food prices, you know, all
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  Speaker 2: of those things really exacerbate it. And so for us,
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  Speaker 2: you know, we're all about education equals opportunity, and so,
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  Speaker 2: you know, really trying to do as much as we can,
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  Speaker 2: but the problem is huge.
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  Speaker 1: It's hard enough getting kids to go to school, apparently
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  Speaker 1: because of the pandemic and the ongoing effect of that.
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  Speaker 1: How does this though, affect school attendance?
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  Speaker 2: It does affect school of tea. A lot of you know,
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  Speaker 2: families with children who they kind of for the essentials
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  Speaker 2: for feel a lot of shame. You know, they are
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  Speaker 2: good people, They're not wasting their money. They just simply
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  Speaker 2: don't have enough every week to be able to do
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  Speaker 2: those extra things. You know, at this time of the year,
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  Speaker 2: we know that a lot of teachers and can schools
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  Speaker 2: tell us that kids are wearing you know, the jackets
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  Speaker 2: we provide in the height of summer because it's the
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  Speaker 2: only part of the uniform they have. There's kids coming
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  Speaker 2: with empty food packets even to try and show that
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  Speaker 2: they have had something when they may not have. So,
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  Speaker 2: you know, for us, our goal for this appeal is
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  Speaker 2: to get a thousand kids sponsored so that they can
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  Speaker 2: take advantage of their education that that is offered to
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  Speaker 2: all of us.
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  Speaker 1: You've mentioned food, the jerseys, the shoes, what other things.
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  Speaker 1: What are the aspects of influencing whether they turn up
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  Speaker 1: or do well at school.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, look, it's stationary, it's having enough food at home
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  Speaker 2: before they even get there. It's in sport, it's all
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  Speaker 2: of those things. And so what we provide is the clothing,
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  Speaker 2: the shoes, the food, which gives that little bit of
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  Speaker 2: families just to provide those essentials that hopefully make it
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  Speaker 2: a bit easier for parents and kids to get to school.
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  Speaker 2: It really about making sure that they have that social
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  Speaker 2: inclusion at school starts day one. Any day that's missed
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  Speaker 2: of school is going to have an impact on our
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  Speaker 2: child's learning.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah. Absolutely, and Julie, thank you so much. Julie Chapman
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  Speaker 1: as the CEO of Kids Can looking for more help there,
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  Speaker 1: just get in touch with them. If you've got some
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  Speaker 1: deep pockets and you'd like to contribute, I'm sure they
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  Speaker 1: could do with the help. For more from Early Edition
• 3:56
  Speaker 1: with Ryan Bridge, Listen live to news talks they'd be
• 3:59
  Speaker 1: from Fun weekdays, or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio.