Lunch provider for students in need says kids should continue to receive meals during holidays

One of the largest providers of food in schools in the Bay of Plenty says funding should be allocated all year round – not just when students are in the classroom.

Bay Venues prepares nearly 4000 meals a day, and while Covid-19 brought many businesses to their knees, chief executive Justine Brenan said it presented her company with an opportunity.

"We've got 12 people who are newly minted employees of Bay Venues Limited who otherwise would be unemployed, and we've managed to provide them with full-time employment through this programme," she said.

The programme operates during the school term and Brenan says it’s been working a treat.

"The feedback we're getting from the teachers is around things that they've been struggling with for years and years, and years.

“Things like lower absenteeism, things like higher concentration levels, and lower levels of misbehaviour and aggressive behaviour."

But when school is out, so too are the lunches – a situation Brenan says should be addressed.

“Over the holiday period we've got these students who are used to being fed — they're no longer worried about where their next meal is coming from, they've got over that feeling of hunger that they've had to manage during the day. And then all of a sudden we're just ripping the rug out from underneath them."

Tommy Wilson from Te Tuinga Whanau Services — which cares for hundreds of families dealing with poverty, addiction and other social issues — agrees, saying that access to good food makes a big difference.

"We know the problem, we know the solutions,” Wilson said.

“Join the dots. We've got the kai, we've got a place to do it, we just need the Government to come on board."

The Education Ministry told 1 NEWS it provided three million lunches to nearly 40,000 students this year and next year hopes to feed nearly 200,000 primary and secondary school pupils.

However, the ministry also added it's not considering feeding them outside of term time, which frustrates Brenan.

"Surely feeding children, if we've identified the need during the term, the need doesn't suddenly vanish over the holidays."