A $10,000 grant to the Koala Kids Foundation will help bring smiles to children in south-west hospitals.
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The Victorian not-for-profit received the funds as part of the 2020 CommBank Staff Foundation Community Grants program.
The organisation provides "small things" to children and young people undergoing cancer treatment and works with major treatment hospitals in regional Victoria, including South West Healthcare in Warrnambool.
Koala Kids will be providing each child at South West Healthcare with a chocolate smash, as well as lucky dips, superhero costumes for children undergoing radiotherapy, and diversion kits for young people having to spend time in hospital without any visitors.
All of these things are aimed to distract children and young people from painful and invasive procedures and long periods of isolation.
South West Healthcare's Suzan Morey welcomed the funding.
"Koala Kids is a terrific charity that supports children, and the hospitals they're in, throughout Victoria," she said.
"Most recently, Koala Kids donated slime kits to make sure our pediatrics unit children didn't miss out on the fun of Science Week, and a few weeks back it donated blank jigsaw puzzles for children to paint and share with their dad's, ahead of Father's Day.
"Like the hand knitted trauma teddies the local Red Cross donates to us, and the local CWA's children's activity packs, these types of gifts are such wonderful distraction therapy for our younger patients. We're very grateful to the charities that choose to help us in this way."
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