Editorial: Choppers Not Children’s Charities

WHEN the thumping of chopper blades are heard circling our local hospital, the town catches its breath for a moment as we wonder who is being airlifted, what local family are hurriedly organising to follow the chopper carrying their loved one to Newcastle or Sydney and we hope everything will be ok.

This week the chopper service will start notifying us of their call outs in our area, because they understand the connection their service has with our community and want to inform us of what they are doing, so that we have a greater appreciation of how they serve us.

After spending much of my career working in health including major hospitals and charities the Westpac Rescue Helicopter is without a doubt worthy of every ounce of our community support, but not all charities are.

Viewing health and charities from the inside gave me an appreciation for what charities are most worthy of the average person’s money.

When friends ask where they should donate their money, I always encourage them to donate to the lesser known charities, or to causes which are less popular.

From experience I can tell you raising money for a bed for a baby in intensive care is infinitely easier than a mattress for a spinal injury patient.

As a general rule of thumb, many of my colleagues who have worked in the charity space actually steer people away from large charities, especially children’s charities.

The reality is that most of the large charities have millions of dollars sitting in their coffers and operate off the interest of the money.

They have benefactors who regularly contribute hundreds of thousands of dollars, they use celebrities to raise their profiles, hold opulent balls, where individuals splash around tens of thousands of dollars each, they enjoy the corporate or personal networking opportunity of the evening and the charity keeps tucking away the cash.

Rarely do we see money from these charities flow back into our own regional community.

I’m not denying that these charities do incredible work, worthy of considerable donations, but I am saying instead of giving your money to a charity that already has millions in the bank and is supported by major corporations, perhaps you should look at donating your money to a smaller charity where it may have more impact.

This is especially true in regional communities, where our local charities often struggle for the basics.

Instead of donating to a large Sydney based hospital, why not donate to your own local hospital?

The Westpac Rescue Helicopter, while a larger organisation than our local charities, is an absolutely essential service for people in this community and worthy of every cent our community donates to it.

If you want to specifically donate to children, then donate directly to our regional families.

I saw many regional people arrive in large Sydney hospitals, who struggled to afford motel accommodation while they had a loved one, including new born children, hospitalised.

Often they arrived in a hurry with only the clothes on their backs.

There is not always room at the hospital for them to stay or government money they can access.

A simple basket of essentials such as a toiletries and a voucher for a meal was often desperately needed.

I’ve also seen parents struggle under the financial weight of missing work, while they look after a terminally ill child.

There are not the safety nets in place you may imagine.

Before you give your money to a Sydney based charity, think about talking to our local charities, schools or health care workers about how your donation could make a difference in our own community.