Variety Warm Hearts Winter Appeal – Donate now

The hospitalisation rate for respiratory conditions is three times higher for children living in our poorest communities.

Child Poverty Monitor 2019

Variety needs your help this winter to provide proper beds and bedding for 417 Kiwi kids who are sleeping on the floor or bed-sharing due to over-crowding.

Donate now

For these children, keeping snug and warm in their own bed is something they can only dream about.

Your donation will help children like Annie's* grandson Patrick*. From an early age Patrick had suffered respiratory problems that made him unwell and were the cause of many trips to the doctor. When he came to stay with his grandmother last year, he brought the asthma and allergies that had seen him hospitalised every year of his young life.

"But he hasn't been admitted at all this year. The bed Variety provided and the health makeover Healthy Homes Initiative gave us has a lot to do with that," says Annie.

The government's Healthy Homes Initiative was established to make the homes of low-income families with children warm and dry. Variety partnered with them for its Bed for Kids programme two years ago so they could reach the kids most in need, says Variety National Programmes Manager Emma Bolwell.

"Looking at everything we have been given, it feels like we won the lotto," says Annie, whose own respiratory problems have improved since her home got its health makeover.
"It's amazing for Patrick, who is a great little character ... such a clever boy, we are just so grateful and quite overwhelmed."

You can help save hundreds of disadvantaged Kiwi kids like Patrick from suffering through another harsh winter with a donation to Variety's Warm Hearts winter appeal.

Donate now
$39 will fund a warm blanket.
$80 will fund a bedding pack (duvet inner, sheets, duvet cover, pillow set, pillow).
$336 will fund a single bed (includes mattress, mattress protector and bedding pack).
$688 will fund bunks beds (includes mattresses, mattress protectors and bedding packs).

Thank you for making a difference. Your gift will help to bring joy and warmth to many more disadvantaged Kiwi kids this winter.

.