Support the Bravest of the Brave With 96five’s Heart of Christmas

Bravery Box is a Brisbane charity that supports kids and their families through an initial cancer diagnosis and subsequent treatments.

The Bravery Box has been a way to encourage and uplift kids undergoing cancer treatment, by offering a reward for bravery when faced with a painful or confronting procedure.

This year it’s your opportunity to not only encourage kids with cancer with a donation of toys, but to help their parents out with toiletry items that they are often in need of when arriving at the hospital.

The charity was founded by Tanya Allen following her daughter Lara’s diagnosis with leukemia, and 800 days of chemotherapy treatment.  While Lara was undergoing treatment, Tanya noticed that there was a bravery box located in the Queensland Children’s Hospital that was stocked by hospital staff.

Often supplies would run low, so in 2017 Tanya and her husband David began a toy drive to ensure that the box would never run out of rewards to help when a child had been particularly brave during a painful procedure.

Fast forward to 2021 and Bravery Box has expanded to not just supporting children, but also supporting the entire family.  They have seen first hand that parents who feel supported, heard and hopeful are better able to help their child through cancer treatment.

And because the main cancer treatment centre for the entire state of Queensland is the Children’s Hospital in Brisbane, it is not uncommon for regional parents to hop onto a care flight to Brisbane with literally just the clothes on their backs.

Because cancer patients are immunocompromised, Bravery Box ask that all toys are new and unwrapped, and they do try to avoid plush toys where possible.  For safety reasons it is also important that there are no button batteries in toy donations.

See left for some examples of suitable toys that are under $20 from retailers such as Big W, K Mart and Target.

You can also support parents of kids with cancer with donations of toiletry and hygiene items from the following lists:

You can drop off your donations to the 96five studios at 81 Mina Parade, Alderley between 9am and 3pm every weekday until Friday December 10.