KidsCan a Decade of Making a Difference

Welcomed into five hundred schools nationwide, the KidsCan Charitable Trust can look back on a decade of making a big difference in the lives of thousands of schoolchildren.

Recent surveys have shown that over the past 10 years KidsCan food, raincoats, shoes and health programmes have had a measurable and beneficial impact on the lives of many children educated in our lower decile schools.

A 2015 evaluation of the effectiveness of KidsCan programmes in 245 of its partner schools found 97% reported an increase in the wellbeing of the children, 86% reported an increase in attendance at school, 93% reported increased levels of self-esteem, 76% reported reduced stigma through improved equality, 90% reported improvements in behaviour and concentration levels, and 89% reported an increase in overall performance at school.

Co-founded by Julie Chapman KidsCan has just reached the milestone number of 500 partner schools throughout New Zealand and is now supporting more than 105,000 children each year.

Since KidsCan began in 2005 it has provided over 14 million items of food, 200,000 raincoats, 89,000 pairs of shoes and 230,000 health and hygiene items for children living in hardship. The KidsCan ‘Food for Kids’ programme currently assists more than 18,000 hungry children a week.

30 schools (2,337 children) are currently waiting for KidsCan’s support spread across New Zealand including Northland, Auckland, Waikato, Gisborne, Hawkes Bay, Manawatu-Wanganui, Bay of Plenty, Wellington, Tasman, Canterbury, and West Coast.

Says Julie Chapman, “Amongst the teachers who responded to our research were KidsCan kids who are now young adults, and they have told us just how much of a difference KidsCan made in helping them to succeed in life.”

KidsCan is calling for more caring Kiwis to support a child in need for $15 a month (50 cents a day) through its ‘In Our Own Backyard’ programme. Just $15 per month provides a child with food at school, a raincoat, shoes, socks and basic health and hygiene items. “Importantly,” says Chapman “100% of all donated funds go to meeting the needs of the children.”

ENDS

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