Cairns Member’s generosity changes lives

The way families grieve has been transformed by the generous donation of a lucky door prize by a UDIA Queensland Cairns Branch member, the Institute has been told by Hummingbird House General Manager Fiona Hawthorne.

They are Queensland’s only children’s hospice providing support to families when their child is dying.

The Cairns member, who wants to remain anonymous, won a Bluetooth speaker at an Institute event and promptly returned it to Institute staff for forwarding to Hummingbird House.

At a staff briefing this month, Fiona told the Institute team that the Bluetooth speaker meant that dying children could listen to favourite lullabies or pre-recorded messages of love from family.

“We use that speaker all the time”, Fiona said.

“Before we received it, we just had to put the family members’ phone in a glass bowl to make it louder,” she said.

“This donation has transformed how families grieve.”

The donation is only one way the Institute and its incredibly generous members have supported Hummingbird House since 2018.

Over this period, Institute members have raised more than $30,000 for the unique charity through a range of activities:

• Donations in lieu of speaker’s gifts
• Donations from members at the annual Awards luncheon
• Staff donations.

The Institute has also profiled the charity and its work at major Institute events as another way of raising awareness of the critical need for high quality palliative care services for Queensland children and their grieving families.