2 Apr 2012

Activists seek more food for Whangarei kids

7:57 pm on 2 April 2012

Whangarei's Child Poverty Action Group says the number of hungry children in the city is a scandal.

A report commissioned by the group says that hundreds of Whangarei school-children need help with food from schools and charity each week.

It also says at least nineteen separate charities or church groups are giving food parcels to families who go without meals to pay the bills.

A taxpayer-funded good-quality breakfast for all children in all decile 1 and 2 schools, and continued support for the Fruit in Schools programme have been sought in the report, Empty Food Baskets.

Whangarei's Manaia Health PHO manager, Chris Farrelly, says the need for relief is urgent - despite Fonterra's Milk in Schools scheme starting in Northland last month - because children need more than milk to be healthy.