Dear Roger, in response to your 'Free Lunch” comments in this week's Rabbits...
I am the school nurse in a local Decile 5 college. I have, with full support from management and staff, started Kai Ora, access to free food at interval every day at school. Because we are Decile 5, despite having Decile 1 and Decile 2 feeder schools, we get no government support. However, some local businesses and lots of generous members of the staff and our school community have provided equipment and supplies. Now any student who is hungry at school, regardless of the reason, can eat toast, cereal, and donated baked goods from a local cafe.
'The parents should be feeding these children at home”, you say. 'These children will just have a ‘bludging mentality' reinforced”, you imply. We agree, children should be fed at home. But when they are not, I do not agree with your sentiments.
To my delight I have found a whole spin off to our initiative, a culture of community and whanau around a meal table that is priceless. Not only will these children go on to learn better and have a chance to break any cycle of dependence their family may be stuck in, but they are learning table manners, respect, and facts around nutrition and health. They wash their own dishes and divide their waste between landfill, recycling and food waste for composting. Several of our senior students bring their own food, sit with our younger students, talking with them and demonstrating respect both for staff in the way they communicate with those of us who supervise, and for property and facilities.
Those of us who work in Youth Health and Education know that the concept of ‘connectivity' is key in keeping kids at school, feeling like they belong, feeling valued and wanting to be there. If we achieve this through Kai Ora, and I think we are doing just that, then we are succeeding on more levels than just providing a piece of toast and jam!
Clare Wilson, RN, School Nurse
Mount Maunganui College.
2 comments
Well done Clare
Posted on 21-06-2013 20:28 | By The Tomahawk Kid
The people of this country have been so bludgeoned by nanny state wielding her big stick of force, that when the answers are looking us right in the face, we are unable to recognise them! Nobody begrudges the needy children being fed- it is the manner about which we go about it is the issue. This Kia ora programme is the perfect example of how it can and SHOULD be achieved! By community spirit. Government handouts of stolen money are NOT the way to go about it. You do not achieve community spirit by FORCE, threats, and wielding a big stick - you do it by voluntary acts of goodwill, benevolence and generosity as this decile 5 school has proved. Congratulations to Clare for organising this, you are a legend! But please understand that there is a huge difference between you and the community of caring contributors, and accepting government handouts to try and achieve what you have done. There is NO comparison. What you have done is out of love, passion for your belief, and hard work and determination to achieve your desired result. The government alternative is made possible by the immoral use of force, theft, and bully tactics, and would nowhere NEAR come close to what you have done. Good for you
No Free Lunch
Posted on 23-06-2013 12:42 | By Mike Kuipers von Lande
There is no such thing as a free lunch. Such initiatives are paid for by society at large. Even if not directly funded by the taxpayer, costs get added to what we purchase when funded by companies. When these children arrive at school with no lunch is the school taking appropriate action? Do the parents get summoned to explain? Are they referred to budgeting agencies? Are the families checked to see that they are getting the assistances they are 'entitled' (!) to? Are CYF informed if the problem persists? What do they do? Does the taxpayer funded benefit get cut by the amount of the lunch/breakfast if the child has to be fed at school? This is the kind of connectivity that also needs to be applied. Why does the program have a Maori name? Is it because they are the prominent offenders in sending their children to school hungry. This PC Maori name has no connection with the vast majority in society. Recent statistics show that tribal Maori own 40% of our fisheries, 43% of our forestry and 25% of our farms in addition to huge reserves of freehold land. This from a portion of our population well under 10% when only 'tribal Maori' are included. In addition, Maori share in the rest as well by virtue of the universal citizenship that the remainder of us must exist under. Why then when Maori receive around 6 TIMES the income as the remainder of the population, do the children arrive at school hungry?
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