An organisation providing food for children in low decile schools says demand for the service continues to rise.
A report by the Children's Commissioner's Expert Advisory Group on Child Poverty, released last December, says 270,000 children are living below the poverty line.
KidsCan chief executive and co-founder Julie Chapman says the charity provides food for 10,585 children in 350 low decile schools each week.
She expects that to increase to nearly 400 schools by the start of next year - almost half of all decile one to four primary, intermediate and high schools.
Demand for KidsCan's health and basic clothing programmes is also increasing, she says.