Help is on the cards for sick kids
Children’s hospitals across Australia to benefit from Coles fundraising appeal
15 July 2020
Children’s hospitals across Australia will receive a much-needed funding boost with the launch of a new fundraising appeal at Coles.
From today, customers can help support children’s hospitals in each state and territory just by purchasing a $2 donation card at Coles supermarkets.
The two-week campaign is part of a national initiative known as Curing Homesickness, which brings children’s hospitals from across Australia together to get sick kids home from hospital sooner or make their hospital stay easier.
Sydney Children's Hospitals Foundation CEO Nicola Stokes said the funds raised across Australia would be crucial to providing a better hospital environment for sick kids and helping to get them home sooner.
“The past few months have been tough for so many Australians. Most of us have struggled being at home but for kids in hospital that’s the only place they want to be. During this challenging time for so many Australians, the Coles $2 donation card supporting the Curing Homesickness initiative offers a simple, affordable way that we can come together to make a real difference for sick and injured children. By helping us raise these vital funds, it can allow sick kids to be kids first, and patients second,” she said.
“We’re hoping everyone will get behind this latest campaign from Coles and Curing Homesickness to let sick kids and their families know we’re thinking of them and help raise much-needed funds.”supermarket.
Coles Chief Property & Export Officer Thinus Keevé, who leads Coles’ sustainability strategy, said the fundraiser will add to the more than $500,000 Coles has already raised for Curing Homesickness through the sale of Mum’s Sause.
"Thanks to the support of our customers, we’ve now sold more than one million jars of Mum’s Sause, with 50 cents from every jar sold getting donated to a participating hospital in the state or territory where it was purchased," he said.
"Their generosity at the checkout will help make a difference to the hundreds of thousands of children across the country who are hospitalised each year.”
Donations raised in NSW will go directly towards funding dedicated oncology child therapists and remote health specialists, who help to provide care for children living in rural and remote NSW and can’t easily get to a hospital.
In Victoria, donations can help support Monash’s new Children’s Emergency Department currently under construction.
In South Australia, donations raised will help fund an upgrade of the Hospital’s Home Equipment Centre and also support the Women’s & Children’s Hospital Foundation’s ‘Laklinyeri’ Beach House.
In Western Australia, funds raised will be directed toward the Perth Children’s Hospital Foundation’s Fun on Four recreational space - a play area for sick WA kids to laugh and forget their worries while in hospital.
In Queensland, donations will help fund new equipment for the Prince Charles Hospital’s Children’s Service.
Funds raised in Tasmania go directly to The Royal Hobart Hospital Women’s and Children’s Services to support clinical research aimed at improving the medical care and experience of children across the state.
Money raised in the ACT will go directly towards funding “Smileyscopes” devices in the Centenary Hospital for Women and Children. Smileyscopes is a cutting-edge wearable device which reframes needle experiences for kids with fun, colourful and interactive virtual reality.
About Curing Homesickness
Curing Homesickness is a national campaign developed and coordinated by Sydney Children's Hospitals Foundation. It brings children’s hospital foundations and paediatric services from across Australia together. Money raised through national partnerships will go towards helping kids in hospital get back home sooner or make their hospital stay easier by investing in vital funding needs such as research, the latest equipment and the amazing health professionals who deliver care for children. Funds will also be used to cure homesickness by developing services to connect kids to home while in hospital and making kids feel a bit more at home during their hospital stay. Visit
www.curinghomesickness.orgOpens in new window
for more information about the impact of homesickness on the emotional wellbeing of children in hospital and how this campaign will help them on their recovery journey.
Adelaide Hills mother Kate Wood - pictured here with her baby Torvi and daughter, Tessa - welcomed the fundraising campaign to support sick children in hospital. Pictured with Kate and her children is Coles Mt Barker’s Kira Whelan, who is also getting behind the campaign.
For further information, please contact Coles Media Line (03) 9829 5250 or
media.relations@coles.com.au
