In early September, we launched our latest Power for Good Powerpack, this time for Koru Care Charitable Trust New Zealand.

Koru Care NZ have been working since 1983 to bring joy into the lives of children with major health issues. They have helped more than 10,000 children and their families by giving them some unforgettable experiences, including trips to the Gold Coast and California. Other Koru Care NZ activities include supplying educational and play equipment, and setting up toy libraries.

One of the children, who got the opportunity to go on a Koru Care trip to the Gold Coast back in May is about to have his fortieth operation. That’s a lot of time in hospital for a young child.

We recently got the opportunity to talk to his mother, who sent us this letter:

"Every surgery entails numerous pre-op appointments, time in hospital, followed by post-op pain and recovery, however our son doesn’t know any different and this level of intervention is just accepted and tolerated with a smile. In fact he didn’t realise his journey would make him a valid applicant for the Koru Care trip away.

The initial phone call from Koru Care to advise that he was approved to attend a trip to Australia was wonderful news, by coincidence this news was received on his birthday! Any parent of a special needs child will tell you that this role often involves full time hands-on parenting, catering to a myriad of individual needs, therefore trusting people outside of the family unit to care for your special needs child is a big step. However, Koru Care surpassed any expectations in that regard. We were able to talk to, and then meet with, our son's appointed caregiver prior to the trip. This completely eased our initial concerns and more importantly provided our son with much needed comfort, removing some of the worries about the unknown. From that moment on it was pure excitement.

While away we were grateful to receive regular updates via the Koru Care facebook page, it was obvious that the children were having an amazing time, it was also heartwarming to see the selfless caregivers with full involvement and genuine smiles. Upon return our son spoke so highly of the entire experience, he was beyond positive about the caregivers, he described many ways they went above and beyond, highly energetic and genuine caring people. It was a first for him to be with a group of people as part of the majority, rather than at school he falls outside the norm with his daily challenges. Most of all he felt empowered, a boost in confidence to have this independent experience away from his usual support network and family.

Lifelong memories were created thank you to the wonderful team at Koru Care, we are forever grateful for their efforts, the fund raising, the in-depth planning and preparation, ensuring individual needs were understood and catered for, right through to making sure the trip was a FUN and successful experience for every participant. For the eight days our son was away enjoying daily fun activities, he said he felt like his routines of hospital visits were a million miles away, he had the privilege of time to just enjoy himself!"

Being a child with a serious illness or disability shouldn't mean you have to miss out on the magic moments and memories an overseas holiday can bring. If you want to use your power for good and help power kids' dreams, you can purchase the Power for Good Powerpack now.

Note: The Power for Good/Koru CareTop Up pack was only available until 13 December 2019 and is no longer in the Shop.