IMPACT ON A SHOESTRING

Winner

Childhood Cancer Support Inc.

Feels Like Home –

Childhood Cancer Support

Grants Program

Team

Mark Robbins

Monique van Zelm Felix

Pat Hooper

Helen Crew

Jo Spencer

Superdream

Childhood Cancer Support has very limited resources with only five staff; one manages community/in-house fundraising campaigns, the General Manager manages the grants program and three staff cover family services, maintenance/transport, finance/ admin. They provide accommodation, patient transport services and mental health supports/professional counselling to regional children fighting cancer. The accommodation provided is fully self-contained units for regional families needing to relocate to Brisbane for their child’s long-term oncology treatment to house a family of up to 12 and for up to two years.

The children are severely immuno-compromised due to cancer treatments; they require private, hotel-style accommodation away from the public. The Feels Like Home Grants Program centred on sourcing grants to upgrade accommodation to ensure the families have safe and comfortable long-term accommodation. A qualified Family Social Worker is also on hand to provide counselling/ mental health supports to each family member during their stay and counselling support continues when they return home. They researched and applied for suitable grants. Given resource constraints, a highly strategic approach was needed to ensure high rates of success and impact. A key strategy was registering several identities within the organisation with the Gambling Community Benefit Fund which had previously supported the cause. Their grant capacity was subsequently maximised and allowed for multiple successful grants per round.