KidsCan says it's delivering more food and support for Kiwi kids in hardship than ever before, but CEO Julie Chapman says it's not something to be celebrated.
The charitable organisation supplies food at schools, warm and dry clothing, as well as health items, to support vulnerable children at more than 780 schools.
This term, it's distributing around 211 tonnes of food alone to schools around the country.
KidsCan says that's a 40 per cent increase on last term, and has meant they need extra storage facilities as their warehouse overflows with supplies.
"It's not something to celebrate," chief executive Julie Chapman told TVNZ1's Breakfast this morning.
The economic impact of Covid-19 continues to hit children living in hardship, the charitable organisation found. (Source: Other)
"We would love to see the need for food and other items go down. Unfortunately that isn't the case."
It's likely to be the hardest winter yet for families, Ms Chapman says.
"I think we're seeing the results of Covid, [it] really hit families hard," she says.
"As a result of job losses, redundancies, wage subsidies coming to an end, we've seen this huge increase in need."
The food this winter includes a significant boost in warm food, with nearly half a million servings of soups, tortellini, butter chicken, beef chilli, chicken stroganoff and rice to be supplied, KidsCan says.
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