Everyone can help
Our roots are in the entertainment industry but our core is the community. People from all walks of life, throughout the country, can contribute and experience the joy of helping a child with special needs.

Community Need
Nationally, we provide more than $900,000 each month in assistance for special children but thousands more is needed to reach all the children who call for our help.

Did you know every 18 hours a child is born in Australia with cerebral palsy?*

Technology has provided miracles for hearing, sight and speech impaired kids – at a price. Variety receives thousands of requests each year for vocal output devices, cochlear implants, myo-electric limbs and other technologies. We are unable to reach many of these kids who are waiting for the chance to find a voice and communicate.             

Variety provides over $2.7 million annually to Australia’s children’s hospitals and neo-natal wards, providing such vital equipment as humidi-cribs, ventilators and computer software.

Over 45,500 children and their families are directly assisted by Variety each year, through our appeals programs, our Children’s Christmas Parties and Variety at Work. Thousands more travel on Sunshine Coaches every day and tens of thousands are treated in hospitals supported by Variety.

Variety places three Sunshine Coaches per month on the road nationally but receives requests for three times this number. We can do so much more to get special needs children into the sunshine and their communities. Regional and disadvantaged schools rely on Variety to provide their only computers and other vital learning and play equipment.

With your help, Variety will improve the lives of Australian child in need.

(*Aust. Government Institute of Health & Welfare)

Variety Freedom Program - mobility, communications & experiences

Australia is the lucky country, but if you are a kid in a wheelchair, life can be pretty tough. It’s surprising to learn that a family can wait for up to two years to receive a government funded wheelchair. Variety helps hundreds of kids each year to gain mobility, freedom independence and the chance to join in the life of their community. Wheelchairs can range in cost from $1,000 to $20,000 for a fully motorised wheelchair. Seating systems are individually designed to cater for the condition of each child, to ensure there is room to grow and their posture and health is protected. In 2004-05, Variety granted 188 wheelchairs, totalling nearly $1 million.

Every child deserves to experience the exhilaration of swinging through the air, with the wind on their face and joy in their heart. For those confined to a wheelchair this was never an option until the invention of the Variety Liberty Swing.

Variety has committed to deliver 30 swings per annum for the next ten years to special needs children and their communities. Many of the swings commissioned to date have been placed in rural areas, reflecting our vision to reach children from all parts of Australia.

Variety brings sunshine to the lives of thousands of children through our Sunshine Coaches. Special Schools and other organisations have been the grateful recipients of a fleet of more than 1,000 coaches travelling Australia, transporting children to their daily activities and other special life experiences.

For a minimum outlay of around $20,000 you to can have one of these moving billboards on the streets transporting the kids into the sunshine for up to ten years. With your help, we will achieve our aim of placing at least 40 new coaches per year on the road for special kids. 

For more details on specific programs:-

Bikes for Kids

Bushfire Relief

Variety @ Work

Variety Future Kids - education, experiences & play program

Children with cerebral palsy and other conditions often find writing a near impossible task. A computer can help transform their classroom experiences and their academic performance. Over the past year, Variety granted computers to children with special needs, allowing them to enjoy learning and achieving on par with their classmates.

Support for Special Schools
Variety is an active supporter of Special Education and disadvantaged schools throughout the country. In 2004-05, we helped over 100 schools with the provision of books, educational and play equipment, funding for school camps and educational outings and other urgently needed equipment. Children are our future and we aim to grow our investment in special schools from $500,000 this year to $1 million by 2008.

Variety Caring for Kids - helping hospitals program

Variety proudly supports all children’s hospitals in Australia. In the last financial year, we provided over $2.7 million in urgently needed equipment to children’s hospitals around the country. Major grants included $800,000 to the Flinders Medical Centre, SA for an urgent upgrade of the paediatric ward, $150,000 to the John Hunter Hospital, NSW for a Fairy Sparkle magic garden for seriously ill children and their families, $65,000 to the Myo-Electric Limb Clinic, Westmead, to name a few. Variety pays for the purchase of equipment, thereby ensuring that 100% of every dollar we provide goes where it’s most needed.