Starlight exists “to brighten the lives of all seriously ill and hospitalised children, young people, and their families”. The sad reality is that every minute of every day a child is admitted to hospital in Australia. For those diagnosed with a serious illness their lives are changed immediately. The impact and stress on the entire family is enormous. Mum often leaves work to stay at the hospital to care for the sick child, sometimes for months on end. Dad is at home juggling the other children, running the house, managing his work while coping with the relentless round of hospital trips. The siblings are worried about their brother or sister, but at the same time often feel left out and can be jealous of the attention their sick sibling is receiving. This is where Starlight steps in, with a range of programs both in and out of hospital that deliver fun, laughter and positive distraction to support the whole family throughout their journey. These are: • Hospital Programs – Captain Starlight, Starlight Express Rooms, Starlight TV, Livewire • Community Programs – Starlight Wishes • Online – Livewire, a secure community for seriously ill adolescents • Outreach – Starlight programs to remote locations including indigenous communities and hospitals in the Northern Territory. Starlight’s programs are integral to the total care of seriously ill children and young people. While the health professionals focus on treating the illness, Starlight is there to help care for the child. We support them throughout their journey by providing the opportunity to be distracted from the pain and stress of their treatments and to simply be a child again. We help them experience special and often transformational moments that bring happiness, joy and hope to the whole family. While Starlight programs deliver an immediate impact, they also support the longer term well-being and resilience of the child and the family by ensuring a sense of self is maintained and the experience of hospitalisation and treatment is more positive. None of this would be possible without our wonderful volunteers. Starlight’s dedicated volunteers are an integral part of the team and play a key role in delivering our programs to these amazing children and their families. Our volunteers throughout Australia work across areas such as Wishgranting, helping out in the Starlight Express Room, providing administrative support in our office and participating in, and organising, fundraising events. We are committed to providing positive experiences in an environment that’s caring, nurturing and safe. Successful applicants will therefore undertake a Interview, Reference Checks, Working With Children Check and a National Police Check. Volunteers receive comprehensive online and face-to-face training to enable them to be successful in their chosen volunteer role. Starlight Volunteers can access resources, rosters and online training as well as connect with other Starlight Volunteers 24/7 via our volunteers website. Ongoing support and communication is provided by our dedicated Volunteer Advisor team and volunteers have access to professional counselling services should they need.