Thanks for taking the time to visit my JustGiving page.

The British 10K London Run will be my first participation to a UK running event and I thought I would make this experience even more special by trying to raise money for a good cause.

I was introduced to Radio Lollipop's Charity through my girlfriend who has now been volunteering for them for some time. Hearing stories about sick children "stuck" in hospital for weeks, even months, was a serious reality check and easily convinced me to do my part in trying to make their stay more bearable.

You will find below a full explanation of what Radio Lollipop is all about. If their mission strikes a chord please join me in helping making a difficult experience more tolerable for sick children.

I appreciate your consideration and hope you can join my efforts.

The Mission:

Radio Lollipop is an international children’s charity providing care, comfort, play and entertainment to sick children in hospital.

Their Vision:

To reach every child in hospital – anywhere, any time

Their History:

The Radio Lollipop service was founded in the UK in 1979 as a one-off project.

After more than thirty years as an entirely volunteer organisation Radio Lollipop has grown to include over 10,000 volunteers operating 26 hospital radio stations in 5 countries. They also operate satellite stations in a number of suburban/regional hospitals.

Since 1979 Radio Lollipop volunteers have directly helped nearly 5 million sick children in hospitals and reached over 13 million people worldwide.

The Objectives:

To provide care, comfort play and entertainment for children in hospitals everywhere.

Their Opportunities:

Modern hospital design is focusing on providing single-bed rooms. This further isolates children and underscores the growing and continued need for Radio Lollipop and their play volunteers to help sick children connect to the world outside their rooms.

1. To achieve their vision of reaching every child, everywhere they need to be flexible. They can deliver Radio Lollipop in a number of ways:
2. 1. Radio Lollipop Full service; an in-hospital radio station plus volunteers for ward visiting and one-to-one play with the children.
   2. Radio Lollipop Lite; a limited broadcast capability plus volunteers for ward visiting and one-to-one play with the children.
   3. Radio Lollipop Local; A satellite broadcast service plus volunteers for ward visiting and one-to-one play with the children.
3. New Stations; They currently have numerous requests from children’s hospitals around the globe to create new Radio Lollipop services in their hospitals. They can realise these requests with your help

Evidence they make a difference:

They know they make a real difference. They see it every day in the smiles of the children and families they help. However, it is gratifying to have this endorsed by formal research and reports from our Children’s Hospital partners.

Children’s Hospital Orange County California USA (CHOC);
A 2009 Study undertaken at Children’s Hospital Orange County in USA found;
After the Radio Lollipop activity, children reported a significant decrease in overall anxiety with the greatest reduction coming in the area of worry.
Analyses of (FACES) scores revealed a significant reduction in perceived pain after the program.

Princess Margaret Hospital Perth, Western Australia;
Postgraduate research reported an 82% reduction in request for pain-killing drugs after Radio Lollipop involvement.

Mater Children’s hospital Brisbane Qld, Australia;
In 1990 the Mater Children’s Hospital reported saving over $400,000 in un-administered drugs after the first year of Radio Lollipop operation.

Their Challenges:

Resources: Once a Radio Lollipop station is established, it doesn’t take much money to keep it operating. Therefore they tend to be a very frugal, low maintenance volunteer operation. As a result they have distinct limitations. However, despite this they have managed to steadily grow over the past 33 years.

1. Capability: As a volunteer based organisation they just don’t have the capacity to realise all their opportunities without the generous help and support of community, business and charitable organisations. The sick children in your local hospital will welcome your support too.
2. Quality – they will not compromise the quality of their service and delivery for the sake of growth. They are focused at delivering a quality service to the sick children. They do it properly, or they don’t do it.

Their issues:

Lack of resources – Most of their existing resource is focused at their current operations and locations. They have limited extra fund-raising capacity and what they have is always concentrated at maintaining each existing station. They welcome your help.

1. Focus – Volunteers can only give so much. Their focus is on their local service delivery. So a larger pool of volunteers is always welcome. If you are interested in learning to be a radio announcer they will train you. But you don’t have to be a radio announcer – they will also teach you how to be a great play buddy to the kids in hospital.
2. Limited ability & resources to meet the requests/demands from hospitals around the world requesting their service. They would love to team up with you or your organisation to help them create the resources and volunteers needed to deliver Radio Lollipop smiles to the sick children in all the hospitals that request their service.