April 03, 2024
Homeless numbers grow in Pewhairangi
A new community group is responding to growing numbers of homeless whanau around the Bay of Islands.
Monika Welch from The House of Finkk – or Families in Need Kerikeri – says the group helps to feed and clothe whanau from Kerikeri, Kaikohe, Moerewa, Kawakawa and Paihia.
She says the homeless are a mix of outsiders and locals.
In many cases there is a background of methamphetamine use crippling community and families.
“I have always said that, you know, our kids don’t have a choice or a voice in their circumstances. They don’t choose the parents’ drug addiction, but they’re a part of it, a big part of it. So I just keep helping with that situation, no problem,” Ms Welch says.
She says Associate Education Minister David Seymour needs a smack on the bottom for his plans to scrap the Ka Ora Ka Ako free school lunches programme.