To the Editor,
Residents of Canowindra have again proved they are enormously generous by supporting the annual Wear Red Day fundraiser for Ronald McDonald House Charities Orange.
Wear Red Day was held earlier this year and we now have the final tally of $34,434 raised throughout the central and far west.
These funds will remain in Orange to directly support families who come to stay at the Orange house while their baby, child or adolescent is receiving specialist and life-saving care at Orange Hospital.
Since the Orange house opened, 16 families from Canowindra and surrounding district have stayed at the house in Orange for a total of 96 nights. This amounts to a total saving of $14,400 in accommodation costs alone for families from your area.
At the Orange house, however, not only is accommodation free of charge, but families are provided with emergency meals, complimentary breakfasts for the length of stay, toiletries for the room, grocery items for self-catering and a beautiful gift bag of new books, toys and activities for the child in hospital.
The COVID-19 pandemic has presented our Orange house with a particular set of challenges resulting in us having to cancel our major fundraising event, the annual Ronald McDonald Gala Ball for two years in a row. So funds from Wear Red Day are particularly appreciated this year.
Ronald McDonald House Charities in Orange is and will continue to respond to the needs of families from the central and far west at a time when they need it most.
By providing accommodation and services free of charge, this enables us to remove the financial burden from families at a time when they are often very stressed and worried about their child.
Of the 932 families from the region who have stayed at the Orange house since it opened, more than half have been for families who have a child or adolescent experiencing a mental health crisis requiring urgent treatment in the specialist Child and Adolescent Mental Health unit in Orange Hospital. This is the only unit of its type outside of Sydney and we find families have to stay with us for weeks at a time to be close to their child.
By supporting Wear Red Day in 2021 you have made a real and tangible contribution to helping rural families.
Ronald McDonald House Charities
Orange Executive Officer,
Rebecca Walsh