Skycity To Host Kidz First Christmas Party

26 November 2004

Skycity To Host Kidz First Christmas Party

Famous faces will add to the festive fever at this year’s Kidz First Children’s Hospital Christmas party, to be held on Saturday 4 December at SKYCITY Auckland Convention Centre.

Television personalities Suzy Cato, Stacey Daniels and Oscar Kightly will join in the celebrations with over 250 Kidz First community patients and their families.

As a long-term supporter of the Middlemore-based children’s hospital, SKYCITY is delighted to host this year’s Christmas party.

General Manager Communications, Megan McSweeney, says it’s a wonderful way to show their support for the children and families of Counties Manukau.

“This is the fourth year SKYCITY has put on a Christmas party for children who have been treated at Kidz First Children’s Hospital. We’re delighted to bring the out-patients and their families something special after what has most likely been a difficult time,” she says.

The party is bound to be a fantastic few hours of fun, beginning with a bus journey to town from the Manukau SuperClinic. A few lucky children will travel in style in an HSV high-performance Commodore, while some will ride in a classic Fire Engine.

Waiting to greet the children will be a showcase of entertainers including clowns, face-painters, Amazing Chicane the magician, Nesquik Bunny and Scholastic Lucky the Cat.

No party would be complete without the arrival of Santa and this year’s Mr Claus will come armed with a sack full of gifts donated by SKYCITY and Planet Fun.

The Kidz First Christmas party will coincide with the switching on of Sky Tower’s Christmas lights that same evening. From dusk, 4 December through to 2 January 2005, the red and green Sky Tower lighting will be dedicated to the children of Kidz First Children’s Hospital for the second consecutive year.

Kidz First, which opened on the Middlemore Hospital site in 2000, has an 85-bed inpatient facility, with its own emergency department and a Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. It specialises in burns, plastics and orthopaedic treatment and also has a large community-based paediatric service.

SKYCITY has supported the hospital since 2000, donating over $300,000 to its Burns and Plastic’s Unit. This year the organisation, together with its community trust, launched a dental health awareness campaign and funded a mobile dental caravan.

Executive director of the South Auckland Health Foundation, Pam Tregonning, says it’s wonderful to have the ongoing support of SKYCITY.

“The commitment over the years has been phenomenal and helped to create the wonderful family-centred hospital and community services that we are all so proud of,” she says.

The South Auckland Health Foundation supports and raises funds for the health services of Counties Manukau District Health Board, including Middlemore Hospital and Kidz First Children’s Hospital.

ENDS

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