Small Meals. Big Comfort for Hospital Whānau

Our partner charity, Bellyful, is helping families at Kidz First Children’s Hospital feel cared for during some of the hardest moments of their lives. A warm meal might seem simple, but for exhausted parents staying beside a sick child, it can mean comfort, relief, and one less thing to worry about.

At Kidz First Children’s Hospital in South Auckland, families arrive every day carrying far more than overnight bags.

Some have travelled from Pukekohe. Others from Ōtara, East Auckland and across the wider South Auckland community. What they share is the same worry – a child who needs hospital care.

For many families, that stress is compounded by something more practical: how to feed themselves while they stay with their child.

Wayne Dawn, Service Manager for Kidz First Inpatients at Middlemore Hospital, sees the reality families face every day.

“We have on many occasions encountered families who present who are struggling to provide the basics,” he says.

Meals for families have always been available through the hospital, but they are limited.

“We have seen times where a mother and father will share a single meal, or offer it to other siblings. This is the reality of our community.”

Kidz First has 65 inpatient beds across surgical and medical wards. The hospital cares for families from across South Auckland and works to support the whole family during a child’s hospital stay.

Late last year, volunteers from Bellyful Franklin began providing meals to the children’s ward, extending support that Bellyful had already been providing to the neonatal unit.

For families already under pressure, the difference is immediate.

“Having Bellyful meals available to us has been a gamechanger for the families that are ‘doing it tough’,” Wayne says.

“To outsiders they may seem like a small gesture, but to our families, a hot meal made with love is exactly the kind of support that gets families through tough times.”

The service has been made possible through the work of Bellyful Franklin Branch Coordinator Arna and the branch’s dedicated volunteers, who prepare and deliver the meals for families staying with their children at the hospital.

Bellyful Chief Executive Sheena Revington says the initiative is a wonderful example of community kindness in action.

“Arna and the Franklin branch volunteers have shown such care and commitment in making this happen,” she says. “Our volunteers cook these meals knowing they’re going to families having a really tough time, and it’s a simple way to show those families that their community is standing alongside them.”

She adds, “Having a warm meal means one less thing for a whānau to worry about when their child is in hospital. It’s a way for communities to show families they’re not alone when life suddenly becomes overwhelming.”

For Wayne, the impact is clear.

As he puts it, quoting Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory:
“So shines a good deed in a weary world.”

“To me this epitomises the relationship between Kidz First and Bellyful – a shared common goal to provide some comfort to those that need it most.”

And thanks to supporters like One Percent Collective donors, those small acts of kindness are reaching more families when they need it most.

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Words and images supplied by Bellyful.