Kiwi pop star Lorde has donated $20,000 to feed hungry children in Upper Hutt schools -- helping out after local businesses were slow to assist.
Fuel The Need is a Givealittle page set up to get lunches to schoolchildren who don't normally have them and the 'Royals' hitmaker's contribution was much-needed after an appeal to 300 local businesses didn't raise much at all.
"To date we'd raised around $1400, so when [Lorde's payment] came through, it was absolutely amazing," says organiser Manuel Dalton.
"It's allowed us to get all the balls rolling that we had waiting in the background. This is the start point. We need consistent and continued contributions to allow us to feed these kids, to give them the energy they need to complete their school day."
Lorde, real name Ella Yelich-O'Connor, left a note on the Givealittle page saying: "Good on you Manuel and Fuel the Need - hope this helps a little bit. Lots of love from a former kid who is passionate about all kids having access to food at school."
"We identified 50 children across Upper Hutt schools that do not have lunch on a consistent basis, and we plan to bridge that gap by giving those kids lunches every day," says Mr Dalton.
"One hundred percent of all the donations that we receive for the Fuel The Need fund is purely for the food."
It's not the first time Lorde has donated to Kiwi kids in need. Last year she publicised the Eat My Lunch service, which donates a meal to a child for every meal bought.
"It makes me want to cry thinking about kids who can't eat at school and therefore probably find it pretty tough to focus and learn too," she wrote in an Instagram post.
Newshub.
