The friendly staff were forced to choose which children would receive shoes: “How do we decide who needs them most?”

When the New Beginnings Preschool children walk through the door on Monday morning, some will have their shoes dangling from their feet.

Others will wear the same pair of sandals that they wear 365 days a year. Even if it is raining, most will not have coats.

A two-minute packet of noodles might be all they have for lunch.

That barely lasts after morning tea, says Christchurch downtown manager Mandy Packer. They are often hungry when they arrive.

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And then the center does what it can, handing out fruit in the mornings and afternoons and making toasts for the children who know they haven’t had breakfast.

But that food doesn’t come out of nowhere: staff “beg and borrow” to feed and clothe their children.

At the moment, they only have enough to support those who need it most. When they collect enough money to buy thermals or some shoes, they have to decide who will buy them.

“You know that everyone could use it, but you have to sit down and start eliminating people,” Packer said.

It is hard work.

That’s why the center is desperate to get off the KidsCan waiting list, to avoid having to choose which children have hot, dry feet or a full tummy at lunchtime.

Parents are doing their best, Packer said, but nine out of ten families live below the poverty line, and many of them live together to share the costs. Getting food, raincoats and shoes through KidsCan would be a burden for parents and a relief for staff, but above all it would benefit the children who come to the center every day.

A mother of five in Ōtara hopes that the center where her children go will also soon be removed from the waiting list.

Things before Covid were already tight, living off her husband’s income while she studied. But then she had to accept a pay cut, and suddenly her salary only covered the rent. They are still trying to catch up on the bills they fell behind on.

It means that when you do the shopping, there is not enough for the whole week. She always makes sure the children are fed, going without food on some nights herself.

“Some days I’m so tired that if I don’t see enough, I just have toast.”

Another mother at the center said the same thing: the profit she depends on is not enough to feed her family of six.

During the shutdown, she came to the center for help when local food banks told her they couldn’t help for days.

The nursery has provided food packages, clothing, and blankets. She said she did not know how she would have survived the lockdown without their help.

These are stories that the Ōtara center manager is very familiar with. Covid hit the area hard, he said.

The center uses government equity funds to provide three meals a day for the children, and without that meal during the lockdown, “a lot of our families really struggled.”

They would call the food banks and tell them they would have to wait days or weeks for a food package.

“But you can’t wait two weeks if you don’t have food in the closet,” he said.

So, during alert level 4, the manager went to and from the supermarket, making sure that all children were fed even when they were not in her care.

If KidsCan were taking care of the food in the center, they could do much more for the children, he said. At the moment, they do not have a budget for resources, instead they depend on donations and recycling.

Many children have additional needs, but cannot buy specialized resources to support them because they are “out of budget.”

And despite the outdoor space, children cannot always play outside, because they have come barefoot, in slippers or in socks.

More than 4,000 children are on the lists of the 119 early childhood centers currently on the KidsCan waiting list.

To donate, go to KidsCan.org.nz.