Currently The Salvation Army is seeing a large number of Tauranga families and individuals reaching out for assistance.

Despite this, many Kiwis treat poverty as a case of out of sight, out of mind, says the Salvation Army.

Across New Zealand, each year 68,000 Kiwi children rely on The Sallies for basic needs such as food, clothing and household goods, and the number of homeless New Zealanders is growing, with one in every 100 now classed as ‘homeless'.

The Salvation Army is calling on Kiwis to help them end poverty in New Zealand.

Head of social services Major Pam Waugh says while New Zealand has a reputation as a beautiful and prosperous country that's a great place to live and raise children, the reality for thousands of families living in poverty is very different.

'I've had children tell me they love it when Mum gets paid – that's the one day they get enough food. That's not okay for children to have this worry. It's not good enough in New Zealand.”

'No one should have to live like this, and they don't have to. Enough is enough, it's time to end poverty in New Zealand now.”

The Salvation Army is committed to leading the charge to end poverty in this country and is asking Kiwis to get behind its annual Red Shield Appeal, which raises funds to support The Sallies' frontline work fighting poverty.

By donating to the appeal, people will be helping these families and supporting Salvation Army services that assist thousands of struggling families each year to escape the cycle of poverty and make plans for a better future.

'The Red Shield Appeal is a chance for every New Zealander to contribute in a meaningful way, to make a real and positive difference in their community.

'When people are facing crisis and are in their greatest time of need, The Salvation Army is there to help, but we can only do this with the public's support.”

Pam and The Sallies are challenging all New Zealanders to 'see the need around us, to talk about it and take action”.

'It's going to take the whole community working together to make this change. We need people to challenge each other and think about what they want their community to look like and how we can make it happen.”

To support The Salvation Army Red Shield Appeal visit www.salvationarmy.org.nz/redshieldappeal, call 0800 53 00 00, or give to a Salvation Army street collector between May 1-7.

DEMAND ON SALLIES'S SERVICES INCREASING

The Salvation Army helped more than 120,000 New Zealanders in need, through both short-term emergency support and working with each person on a long-term plan to lift them out of poverty using services such as budgeting, life skills, counselling and accommodation In 2016.

But Pam says The Sallies' statistics show demand for many of its social services is increasing.

'In the 2015/16 financial year, there was a 27 per cent increase from the previous year of clients who accessed counselling services, and an 18 per cent increase in people accessing budgeting support.”

For more information, visit salvationarmy.org.nz