Amazing Grace – Koala Kids Intern Program

February 23, 2022By

Grace Staindl-Dymond applied for an internship at Koala Kids to complete her placement for her University course, Science (Advanced) Global Challenges at Monash University. Grace has reflected on her experience with Koala Kids.   

In the short span of 120 hours I have learnt so much, and I am incredibly grateful to Mandy Mandie and Jess Bucci for welcoming me into the Koala Kids family; it has been an incredibly enriching and eye-opening experience.  

My internship at Koala Kids has allowed me to diversify my circle and connections. Not only was I introduced to volunteers, who vary greatly in age and demographic, I have had the opportunity to connect and empathise with families and healthcare workers who are facing incredible hardship. The opportunity to connect with people who are vulnerable is one that I will cherish, especially because I feel that I can relate to the effects and aftermath of one’s cancer journey in a very personal way. It has also been an opportunity for self-reflection and appreciation – to be mindful of the gifts that I have in my own life and to genuinely appreciate the opportunities I have.   

Philanthropy has always been a personal topic of interest, but I never truly realised and appreciated the number of dedicated staff and volunteers needed to create a well-oiled and effective not for profit organisation like Koala Kids. The Koala Kids family encourages autonomy and creative thinking and I really enjoyed observing how Mandy, Jess and all of ‘the family’ altered their approach to best cater to the needs of each individual family.  

Moreover, I have a deeper appreciation for business-drivers and the need for constant innovation behind the face of philanthropy. Koala Kids proved time and time again that it can adapt in the face of adversity (in particular COVID). An example that comes to mind is the Koala Kids lunches that were hosted in November and December of 2021. Instead of cancelling all fundraising events due to COVID restrictions, Koala Kids was able to adapt and invite volunteers to host lunches in the privacy of their homes to ensure a successful fundraising campaign. Similarly Koala Kids interaction with families since its inception in-person hospital visits, but quickly had to pivot its business model due to COVID and focus on families at home. Both of these adaptive changes have been incredibly successful, and highlights the importance of adaptability within a successful business model. I plan to carry this mindset with me into my future job roles.  

Koala Kids purpose is to bring happy moments to children and young people during cancer treatment. But my interactions with Mandy, Jess, the Monday Ladies and every other person I got to connect with during my Koala Kids journey, brought me my own moments of happiness and laughter. For that, I will always be eternally grateful and hold those moments close in my heart. I consider myself well and truly part of the Koala Kids family, and I cannot wait to collaborate and work alongside Mandy and Jess for many years to come!  

READ MORE

Koala Kids Summer Lunches 2021

February 23, 2022By

Koala Kids Summer lunches raised over $60,000.  More than 300 women enjoyed  beautiful, intimate private settings hosted by Koala Kids supporters intent on providing happiness for children and young people with cancer and their families.  We dined around Melbourne and as far away as Killarney in the Western District, Sorrento and Main Ridge.  

Special thanks goes to Provincial Home Living and Liberty Belle for sponsoring our event and providing beautiful gifts for each guest, Treat Catering, Preece Wines, Purpose Technology, Neo Print and ICEE Cold Fold Boxes  

In addition to our loyal lunch hostesses we were really pleased to welcome new ladies to our growing network of people who appreciate our vision to touch every child and young person from birth to 25 years with cancer.  Some new women have already offered to host lunches in their homes this year and introduce their friends and school community to Koala Kids and others have committed to casually volunteering with us since enjoying lunch late last year. 

Our lunch formula is a simple one. A hostess invites her guests, takes and their money.  Koala Kids provides the Champagne, wines and mineral water, handwritten name cards, serviettes and an event program.  The food is delivered on the morning of the event with very simple serving instructions ready to be plated. All the hostess is left to do is set the table! 

If you would like to find out more information or register to host a Koala Kids lunch, cocktail party or dinner we would love to hear from you. Call Mandy 0412 558 466 or email mandy@koalakids.org.au.

READ MORE

HOSPITAL LINGO IS A WINNER

February 23, 2022By

Koala Kids trialled the provision of around 100 prizes each month to The Royal Children’s Hospital Lingo program during the last six months and the collaboration has come up trumps.

“Hospital Lingo is an online bingo style game, available to children and young people of any age. It’s just like Bingo but with all the weird and wonderful things found in hospital. It’s on the RCH TV every Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday at 12pm.”

Children and young people completing their activity sheet can win prizes like LEGO, DUPLO, Playdoh, kits of all kinds for all ages, licensed toys, art and craft, board games.  They are asked for their preferences so Lingo coordinator, Carly Alcastro, can choose an appropriate gift, specially during COVID when children aren’t able to make their own choice.

Koala Kids is sourcing all prizes as donations and we are always happy to receive enquiries from toy and games distributors wanting to support the program.

READ MORE

COFFEE TO POWER EMERGENCY WORKERS

February 23, 2022By

Koala Kids and Coffee Mio recently surprised the Emergency team at The Royal Children’s Hospital with an espresso machine, grinder and six kilos of fresh beans each month.

“Our very coffee-obsessed department will be absolutely thrilled to receive such a generous gift”.

Koala Kids is aware of the additional pressure the healthcare teams in all our network have been under during the past two years so when we were able to come good on a promise, everyone was extremely excited

“The coffee machine is amazing. Loved by all including nursing and medical staff and also our cleaning and patient service staff. It is also great to be able to make tired parents coffee overnight.”

READ MORE

ENGAGING IMAGINATIONS WITH DOLLS

February 23, 2022By

Koala Kids recently sponsored Dr Maria McCarthy, director of the psycho-oncology program Children’s Cancer Centre at The Royal Children’s Hospital and the team of nine child life therapists to be trained ways of using Persona dolls.   Therapists and or children have the ability to create stories behind each Persona Dollsas a way to engage children and encourage them to talk about ideas, experiences and feelings in a safe space.

Four dolls were delivered to Maria and the team earlier this month.

“The beautiful hand-made dolls are made in Paarl, South Africa by an all women group – including pattern cutters, seamstresses, wig makers and finishers – who share our vision and feel very much part of the project.  They are from a disadvantaged, rural and under resourced area and are trained and supervised by Juanita Bosch, a highly skilled doll maker and manager.

“Most of the dolls’ clothes, including all trousers, dresses, knickers and some of the t-shirts are made by Milly Parker, also in South Africa. Milly is in her nineties is still making clothes for us!” Vicki Hutchin, acting coordinator told us.

READ MORE

SANTA’S GIFT TO KOALA KIDS

February 23, 2022By

Jack Bongiorno has donated a whopping $80,800 to Koala Kids since publishing his storybook Santa and his Brother Down Under in 2013.

Ambassador and long time supporter of Koala Kids, Jack, donated $31,733 to Koala Kids this month alone from the sales of more than 1,500 books late last year.

The story tells the tale of a desperate and overworked Santa recruiting his brother Santa Cossie from down under at the 11th hour to help deliver gifts to children.  Using a surfboard as his sleigh, Santa Cossie in his board shorts made his deliveries with the help of a team of Kangaroos, named after Jack’s children Tom, Harry, Sam and Millie.

Neo Print provided 2,000 copies of the book pro bono enabling Jack to maximise his donation.

READ MORE

HAPPY CAR CLUB

October 1, 2021By

After much planning, we finally launched Koala Kids Happy Car Club last month with our first fleets arriving at Ballarat and Bendigo Hospitals.

Children headed for theatre are able to drive themselves to surgery in Koala Kids electric cars, with the aim of reducing fear and anxiety and overall making the experience more fun and less daunting.

Young Ballarat boy Ezra was the first child to pass the (very stringent!) driving test, earn his Koala Kids license and drive to surgery to have his adenoids and tonsils removed. All dressed and ready to go in his Koala Kids novelty printed theatre gown accompanied by his favourite teddy, Ezra cruised the hallways of Ballarat Health to surgery with the biggest smile!

We’re looking forward to increasing the number of cars in our fleet and providing cars to more paediatric wards. Fellow car enthusiasts are invited to sponsor our Happy Car Club with a tax-deductible donation of $350 which will provide one electric car for a paediatric ward in regional Victoria or Tasmania. For more information on sponsorship opportunities, please contact us.

READ MORE

TERTIARY PROGRAM

July 13, 2021By

In addition to our schools program with primary and secondary school students, Koala Kids loves providing meaningful and practical experience for tertiary students.

During Semester 1, we hosted Rhonda Kruize, an events intern from William Angliss Institute. No sooner than Rhonda joined than she was thrown into the deep end to help execute our rescheduled #webelievehappyhelps cocktail party in March. We were also able to provide her great experience leading up to and on the night of our National Volunteer Week dinner in May.

During COVID last year we met with Australian Catholic University (ACU) with view to engaging students in work experience in order to complete their studies. A fabulous group of six ACU students from occupational therapy and teaching volunteered with us at Monash Children’s Hospital as part of a rotating roster in Semester 1.  The feedback from the sessions from both Monash and the students has been realy encouraging with each of the students offering to volunteer again in Semester 2. The students reported their volunteering experience has helped them gain valuable and practical experience relating to their fields of study.

With the ever-growing capabilities of technology, Koala Kids signed on to Practera, a leading platform powering high quality experiential learning programs for tertiary students to help build practical skills around real world activity. 

We provided industry specific projects to two groups of students from Edith Cowan University in Perth who had been matched virtually with Koala Kids. One group developed a sales and marketing strategy for our online happy store and the other compared us with other not for profit organisations in paediatric oncology, suggesting new opportunities.  

We are presently providing another group of students from the University of New South Wales Business School, the opportunity to work on a two-week real-world business project as a business opportunity accelerator. We are going to provide them the same brief, to develop a sales and marketing strategy for our ecommerce business.

READ MORE

HAPPY FUNDRAISERS

July 13, 2021By

What does a haircut, bar mitzvah and a tenth birthday all have in common? They are all fundraising for Koala Kids!

We are incredibly fortunate to have wonderful supporters fundraising to provide happy moments for children, young people and their families during cancer treatment. In addition to raising important funds for Koala Kids, these events also help spread awareness of Koala Kids to new audiences.

Lin Wee has volunteered for Koala Kids for over five years providing marketing, graphic design and AV support through her business Purpose Group.  Lin recently decided to cut her luscious long locks of hair in order to make wigs for people suffering from hair loss as a result of cancer treatment and other medical conditions. 

In the lead up to her big hair cut, Lin encouraged family, friends and clients to donate to Koala Kids as she has seen first-hand the impact we make on children and young people. The fundraiser was incredibly successful, raising around $5,000.

Young or old, you can always ask family and friends to donate gifts to Koala Kids in lieu of gifts on your birthday! A particularly kind, soon to be ten-year-old has been asking his family and friends to do just that following a presentation from Mandy Mandie, Koala Kids executive director at his school earlier this year. 

We are also humbled to have Tony McGinn OAM asking for donations for his upcoming 60th birthday. Tony has been involved with Koala Kids since its inception as part of the KOALA Foundation (now Children’s Cancer Foundation). Tony says “I am genuinely amazed at the work Koala Kids do and the results they create. So at the time of celebrating my 60th Birthday, I am blessed with a healthy family and a happy life. The best present anyone can give me is to help Koala Kids put more smiles on more faces.”

When Nick Bursztyn decided to invite his friends to make donations to Koala Kids instead of buying him gifts for his Barmitzvah party, he didn’t realize that in fact one of his 70 plus second cousins, Nick Mandie had founded Koala Kids after his own Barmitzvah in 2005. The two Nicks are members of a very large family and their great grandfathers were brothers! A further coincidence is that both Nicks will have celebrated their coming of age on the same weekend on the Jewish calendar, 16 years apart. 

Have you got a special celebration coming up that you would like to consider fundraising for Koala Kids? We are able to create a customised fundraising page. Click here for more information.

 

READ MORE

HAPPY BASE UPDATE

July 13, 2021By

Koala Kids happy base continues to grow momentum for both families of children with cancer and adolescents and young people undergoing cancer treatment with more than 190 families presently enjoying a range of activities each month.

We recently provided a Zoom cooking workshop with one of Koala Kids newest volunteers, Susan Williams (a former cooking teacher), puzzle giveaways courtesy of FunBox Activities and Smiling Mind creative mindfulness activities. 

We were also proud to launch our new Community Corner. We all know there is a lot to be gained from the experiences of others and sharing of tips and advice. In every newsletter, we are featuring a different family’s story for other families to read. We are also inviting families to submit a question or ask for advice from other families. 

We want Koala Kids Community Corner to make our happy base families feel more connected.  We also  hope they will provide a safe space for people to share tips and advice on non-medical areas relating to a child’s cancer treatment such as balancing sibling’s schedules, practical hospital advice, recipes for chemo affected taste buds as well as relaxation techniques.

READ MORE