the cause

In 1931 a group of journalists from the HWT’s paper ‘The Sporting Globe' organised a charity sporting carnival on the Melbourne Cricket Ground. The Royal Children's Hospital was nominated as the recipient of the funds. With the full backing of the newspaper, the carnival was so successful that it became an annual event. In 1942, with the cooperation of Sir Keith Murdoch, radio station 3DB broadcast an all day appeal for the Royal Children's Hospital, on Good Friday. In 1957 Channel Seven began the first daylong telethon, and continues to provide an important focus for the Appeal's yearlong fund raising activities.

In 2006, the Herald Sun and CityLink agreed to establish an exciting new annual event, the Run for the Kids, to mark the 75th anniversary of the Good Friday Appeal. The Run for the Kids will launch the start of a week of activities designed to raise funds for the Appeal.

The Good Friday Appeal support base is very broad, with donations coming from every section of the community. On Good Friday more than 60 collection groups volunteer their time at more than 200 intersection points. Approximately 15,000 collection containers are distributed each year. There are 168 area managers based in country towns throughout Victoria, southern New South Wales and Tasmania who motivate their own communities and coordinate local fund raising activities.

The funds raised by the Good Friday Appeal are used by the Royal Children's Hospital to purchase items of medical equipment and to fund research projects. Since its inception the Appeal has contributed $158 million to the hospital on behalf of the people of Victoria.

We hope the Run for the Kids gives even more Victorians an opportunity to get directly behind the Appeal and do something that is both healthy enjoyable at the same time.

A silver Waste Wise event

The 2008 Herald Sun/Citylink Run for the Kids is proud to have been certified a silver Waste Wise event by the Metropolitan Waste Management Group. As a silver event we are well on the way to best practice for waste management at events by committing to at least two recycling streams, low levels of contamination and promotion of reuse and reduce principles through environmentally friendly packaging.

The Run for the Kids event and its major partners, Citylink and the Herald Sun, are committed to reducing waste and becoming environmentally sustainable and as such we are joining a broader program involving schools, local governments, and business.

As a Waste Wise event, Metropolitan Waste Management Group assists with providing bin caps to ensure event patrons can easily separate rubbish from recyclables and banners to promote reduce, reuse and recycling at the event.

For more information on the Metropolitan Waste Management Group please visit Sustainability Victoria’s website at http://www.sustainability.vic.gov.au/www/html/1857-about-waste-wise-at-events.asp. This website has an extensive range of tools and case studies which demonstrate how the Waste Wise program achieves great results across a wide variety of events.