The charity of New Zealanders is well known and, now that supermarkets are on board, food that would otherwise be wasted is turned to good use.
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern launched an ambitious programme to reduce child poverty during a face-to-face debate with former National prime minister Bill English.
The Labour-led Government pledged to spend $5.53 billion over four years to help low-income families and halve the child poverty rate.
The families package - which was promised before the election - meant about 384,000 households would get an average of $75 extra per week.
The package is made up of three core components: Working for Families tax credit increases, a new payment for newborns called Best Start, and a new winter energy payment for all beneficiaries and pensioners.
The entire package is aimed at lifting 88,000 Kiwi kids out of poverty after the changes came into force on July 1.
It is early days - too early to judge any real effects but with a hope some of the extra money will go straight to where it is needed most, the children.
The North East Child Poverty Commission, in Britain, says poverty is caused by not having enough money, nothing more complicated than the lack of cash.
The commission says poverty is a structural problem in society, not the fault of individuals. Poverty is caused by a lack of available jobs, low wages and insecure employment in many jobs, changing benefit levels, and barriers to employment such as child care costs.
Importantly, the commission does not believe the problem is people not wanting to work or not prepared to work hard enough or long enough.
And the level of child poverty cannot be blamed on lifestyle choices, experiences or luck, although those can have an impact on individual cases.
Evidence strongly suggests issues such as drug and alcohol dependency, family breakdown and indebtedness are consequences, not causes, or poverty.
In New Zealand, child poverty is measured using income measures and material hardship measures.
Income poverty is based on a poverty line measured as 60% of the median household income after housing costs and adjusted for family size.
Digging through the statistics makes for disturbing reading and negates many of the stereotypes New Zealanders have about people living in poverty.
Nearly 40% of children living in poverty are in households with income from at least one adult in full-time paid work. The rest are in households receiving their income from benefits.
New Zealand expenditure data shows low-income and beneficiary households spend less proportionately on alcohol, drugs, tobacco and gambling and a greater percentage of their income on food than high-income households.
There is little evidence poverty is due to reckless spending.
Poverty is apparently not due to having too many children, as 55% of children living in poverty are in households with one or two children. The danger is single mothers with children from a range of fathers will turn public opinion against those in real need. New Zealanders generally believe in a fair go and want fathers to be held responsible for supporting their children. Removing the obligation for mothers to name fathers is a contentious issue.
The Government is lifting the minimum wage quickly and several organisations have started paying a living wage.
Budget 2019 will contain a measure of well-being of New Zealanders. Hopefully, progress will have been made ensuring those struggling are starting to feel the benefits of the changes made.
