Children’s Hospital Foundation and Woolworths celebrate four decades of partnership across Queensland and Northern New South Wales.
Everyday shoppers and store teams have contributed more than $67 million to fund paediatric research, life-saving medical equipment, and hospital programs.
Ollie, who received a life-saving heart transplant at age one, finds joy and comfort through Foundation-funded music therapy and bedside entertainment.
Since 1986, local families and supermarket teams across Queensland and Northern New South Wales have come together to support and raise over $67 million for the Children’s Hospital Foundation.
Every dollar stays local, funding vital paediatric equipment, ground-breaking research, and bedside distraction programs that make Queensland Children’s Hospital feel more like home for more than 110,000 young patients each year.
Finding light in long hospital stays: Ollie’s story
Among those children is Ollie, now almost 13 years old. Shortly before her first birthday, Ollie’s heart began to fail and fluid filled her chest. At 12 months old, she received a life-saving heart transplant.
A year later, Ollie began experiencing severe seizures. By age five, she had become mostly non-verbal and required a feeding tube. Today, after undergoing brain surgery and navigating global developmental delays, Ollie continues to manage complex seizures and often requires lengthy admissions at Queensland Children’s Hospital.
For families travelling long distances for specialised treatment, extended hospital visits bring isolation and stress. However, programs funded by the Children’s Hospital Foundation - including the Book Bunker, music therapy, and bedside entertainment - give Ollie and her parents precious moments of quiet joy, relief, and laughter during challenging treatments.
“Ollie is a perfect example of why Woolworths’ support matters so much – for kids like her, hospital can be a frightening place, and it's that four decades of standing shoulder to shoulder with Children's Hospital Foundation that has helped bring joy, hope and support into the lives of kids just like her,” said CEO of Children's Hospital Foundation, Lyndsey Rice.
“It's this community support that's seen a life-changing $67 million raised to support the state's sickest kids,"
Sophie Hobden, Woolworths Supermarkets Queensland Assistant State Manager said: “Thanks to the generosity of our Queensland and Northern New South Wales communities over the past 40 years, we have been able to support the incredible work the Children’s Hospital Foundation does every day and help kids just like Ollie.”
How to support the Small Change Appeal
Woolworths' Small Change Appeal runs from Wednesday, 30 September to Tuesday, 20 October, 2026 nationally across Woolworths supermarkets, with all proceeds directly supporting the respective state’s children’s charity partners.
Customers can support the appeal in three simple ways:
Add a $2 donation wall token to your basket at any manned checkout.
Drop loose coins into in-store donation boxes at customer registers.
Select Round-Up at self-checkouts between 10 and 18 October on purchases of $30 or more.
The Small Change Appeal supports a different children’s charity in every state including:
Queensland: Children’s Hospital Foundation
New South Wales: Variety NSW/ACT
Victoria: Good Friday Appeal
South Australia: Variety SA
Tasmania: St Giles
Northern Territory: Variety NT
Western Australia: Telethon
Every dollar counts, find out more about the Children’s Hospital Foundation at childrens.org.au