coffee
Coastie WITH A
LORRAINE & RHONDA – CENTRAL COAST KIDS IN NEED
Welcome to Coffee with a Coastie. I had the absolute pleasure of sitting down with sisters Lorraine and Rhonda from Central Coast Kids in Need. Lorraine and Rhonda have been at the helm of CCKIN helping children and their families on the Central Coast for over 19 and 21 years respectively and have helped over 3900 children and their families. It is no wonder so many individuals and organisations across the Coast support CCKIN and I was honoured to get the opportunity to sit down and chat with them. Could you share how you first learnt of CCKIN and what motivated you to initially join? Rhonda: It all stems back to when a young friend of ours, Adam Hillier, was killed in a hit and run. He was a bridge and wharf apprentice on the council and the year after he passed away, the social committee of the Gosford City Council had a memorial golf day in memory of Adam. At the end of the day all funds raised went to Central Coast Kids in Need and that was my first contact with CCKIN. The following year I helped with the golf day and got to meet Pat from CCKIN, who was the treasurer before me. I’d previously been collecting corks for the Heart Foundation and thought if CCKIN are interested, I'll continue collecting corks. Pat said to me, why don't you come along to a meeting, meet the girls, and tell them what you're going to do and how they can help. On the first meeting they said we'd really like you to join, and that was it. I came home and said, guess what, I'm joining CCKIN and we're going to continue to collect corks. Over the years we collected thousands of dollars’ worth of corks. Lorraine: Rhonda asked me to come along and join the charity after I lost my husband at a young age to pancreatic cancer. At first I said I really can't, as I was working two jobs at the time; I had a mortgage to pay off and two kids at
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university. Though in a way, it’s been my saving grace, it really has. Initially I was helping Rhonda in the background with admin, then my circumstances with my job changed and I became more involved. What also encouraged me to join is I have two healthy children and now have two healthy grandchildren and when you lose somebody close to you like I did, my husband who was only 48, it makes you want to help as many people as possible who aren't as fortunate as you are. That's why I have such a passion for what I do with CCKIN. It gives me the greatest joy to be able to help families in their time of crisis. CCKIN has an amazing team of volunteers. What are your roles within CCKIN? Lorraine: People see Rhonda and I as the face of CCKIN, but we couldn't do what we do without our wonderful team of volunteers – there are 20 of us. We have no paid employees. Rhonda and I are the engine that drives the day–to–day running of the charity taking referrals, setting up pharmacy accounts, organising accommodation, things like that and our volunteers help by emptying the donation houses, coming to meetings, and helping wrap Christmas presents among other things throughout the year. We are a great team and I suppose you could say Rhonda and I are the team leaders.
Can you share some of the ways that CCKIN supports the children and their families on the Central Coast? Rhonda: Our main thing is accommodation for when families go to Sydney or Newcastle hospitals. Ronald McDonald House is our main port of call. Which can range from $120 a night at Randwick, to $45 a night at John Hunter. If we can't get families into Ronald McDonald House, we source private accommodation at hotels or lodges. We also pay petrol for families to and from the hospital or appointments, along with tolls and parking. If they’re there for a month at a time with a child that's had a bone marrow transplant, it’s huge. Then, if they have high cost medications, we set them up with a pharmacy account to pay for the medications. Currently we have about 230 pharmacy accounts across the Coast. We have had families tell us that they would have lost their house if it wasn’t for our assistance. I feel this year is going to be hard for a lot of families with everything in the economy rising. You have helped many families on the Coast, one that stands out is Toby Martin, who lost his battle with cancer at the age of 14. I wondered how these moments have impacted you? Lorraine: I was devastated when Toby passed away, I had a lot to do with Toby and his parents Roslyn and Chris.
