Source: Radio New Zealand
Organiser Nicky Smith with her kids Joshua and Harper. RNZ/Bella Craig
A Wellington charity supplying school stationery to families who can’t afford it may be forced to turn people away because demand is so high.
Te Awakairangi School Stationery Drive supplies children in the Hutt Valley with essentials such as exercise books, pens and backpacks.
It’s just one of several costs families face at the start of the school year on top of things like school uniforms.
Associate Education minister David Seymour described the price of some uniforms as totally “outrageous” and “unnecessary”.
Last year, Te Awakairangi School Stationery Drive delivered 220 stationery packs for the start of year, meeting every single request.
But already demand is well up and that could mean some tough decisions.
Organiser of the stationery drive Nicky Smith told Checkpoint they’ve already had just under 200 requests, and she expected the number to rise.
“Schools are back from next week and teachers and schools start to realise where gaps might be.”
However, the stationery drive had already exhausted all funds and the donations they had received this year to meet growing demand.
“We collected about $3000 through our Givealittle campaign, and we’ve also collected about $1400 worth of donations in physical items that have come through the community.
“But if we were to take these 200 requests and price them at standard store rates, that’s $9000 worth of stationery. So, if anything further does come through, we’ve got nothing really to fund it with.
“It does keep me awake at night knowing that I might have to turn some families away.”
Te Awakairangi School Stationery Drive has already exhausted all funds and the donations they’ve received this year. RNZ/Bella Craig
Smith said it cost on average $50-55 per student for their stationery needs. The ‘cheapest’ school list she knew of was $26 and the most expensive was $149.
If she had to turn families away, it would be the first time she’d done so.
“I can’t imagine having to do it. I want to be optimistic that we can continue to do this good work and that the community will come through and help us meet every target.”
She said the drive had received more requests this year because of the cost of living, but it also meant that less businesses were able to donate.
“Businesses I feel have been a little bit hesitant this year. We have some supporters who have come back year on year and we’re really grateful to them. But you know we’re not picking up new sponsors.
“That sort of indicates to me that there’s some hesitancy that maybe [with] economic conditions, [it’s] not favourable for a lot of businesses right now and that’s why we’re not really seeing the support.”
Every stationery pack the drive gave out was tailored to each student, she said.
“If a student is attending a school, we will go and find the stationery list for that school and that classroom, and we’ll pack it exactly to what’s on their list because we want to make sure that the kids are arriving at school with everything they do need.
“Things like a range of books, glue sticks, scissors, pens, pencils, colouring pencils.”
This year so far, the drive has distributed 6,500 thousand items. Of those, 1700 of were books, 1500 were pencils and 850 were pens.
A note from the drive. RNZ/Bella Craig
Smith said the drive often received messages from families who they had supported with school stationery.
“They talk about how receiving a pack has almost reduced them to tears because it has lifted a huge weight off their shoulders.”
The stationery drive was inspired by Smith feeling the financial strain herself, during the back-to-school season.
“There was a period there after the COVID years, where getting stationery for my own children was stressful and we went a couple of weeks without having stationery in class.
“Just that feeling of the kids coming home and saying, ‘hey mum, my teachers hassling me because I don’t have all the stuff that I need’. It makes you feel like you’re letting your kids down.”
The drive also received positive feedback from schools, she said.
“Being able to lift that from parents feels really good. But we also hear from schools because we know that we’re helping to reduce some of those really complex barriers to to coming back to school, like attending.”
Te Awakairangi School Stationery Drive has their own website, Givealittle page and Facebook page.
They also have donation points for physical items across all Hutt City Libraries.
Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand
