Tax-exempt Destiny Church's private school on waiting list for help from KidsCan charity

Friday, 29 September 2017

Destiny School, run by tax-exempt Destiny Church, is on a waiting list for help from KidsCan, a charity which supports schools in hardship.

A private school run by Destiny Church has applied for charitable help to feed and clothe some of its students.

Destiny School, run by the tax-exempt church, is third from the bottom on a waiting list of 34 schools seeking help from the KidsCan charity, RNZ's Checkpoint reported.

Destiny School has applied for charitable help to feed and clothe some of its students, despite the church's founders driving luxurious sports cars worth hundreds of thousands of dollars.

KidsCan helps schools in hardship provide food, shoes and raincoats.

A spokeswoman for Destiny Church told RNZ the school applied for help around two months ago to help 'around 20 children a day in urgent need' at Destiny School.

* Destiny School 'technically insolvent' after $240,000 loss last year**

The students in need were primarily those with scholarships or who are sponsored to be there, as opposed to those whose parents pay the private donation of up to $3000 each year, RNZ reported.

However, she said she was 'not confident' Destiny School would get help from KidsCan because of its affiliation with the church.

KidsCan chief executive Julie Chapman told RNZ it was 'irrelevant' who runs or owns Destiny School.

'They are on our waiting list and will come off once funds become available,' Chapman told RNZ.

Destiny Church is being investigated for serial late filing of accounts by the Charities Register.

If it doesn't file by next week the church will be issued a notice of intent to remove its charity status, RNZ reported.