Radio Lollipop
Radio Lollipop is a charity focused on play and fun. It helps children feel positive and involved by encouraging them to initiate and participate in ‘games’. Radio Lollipop is run by trained volunteers and is especially for young people in hospital with its own in-house radio programme at Starship. The station is broadcast exclusively in the children’s wards each evening — with requests, games, talkback, jokes, education, competitions, Lollipop jingles, nursery rhymes and ‘with-it’ music.
Each Monday a team of Radio Lollipop volunteers come to the House to partake in fun and games with all the children. The games include anything from blowing bubbles, creating a collage, puppets, singing on air, building a robot out of boxes, stick games, poi, to reading a story.
The RMH Auckland Trust funds and governs Ronald McDonald House Auckland (48 rooms), the Ronald McDonald House Family Room (13 short stay critical care rooms) in Starship Hospital and RMHA St Martins (16 offsite apartments). It is a registered community charitable trust comprised of the following partners: Auckland District Health Board, Child Cancer Foundation, Heart Children, The Rotary Club of Downtown Auckland, Ronald McDonald House Charities and 2 community representatives. The House, Family Room and St Martins provide a ‘home away from home’ for over 3,000 families of children with life-threatening illnesses each year. The Trust through its staff and partnerships actively fundraises throughout New Zealand to achieve the $3,000,000 p.a. it needs to run the facilities and support its families. Charity Registration number: CC23591