At ICON 2025 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the Kiwanis Club of Sydney, New South Wales of Kiwanis Australia District, was honored with the Silver Award in the Group 1 category of the Kiwanis International Best Signature Project Contest. The award recognized their deeply compassionate Comfort Care Cases initiative.
The project supports children in end-of-life care at Sydney Children’s Hospital in Randwick by providing specially curated comfort cases. Each one includes soft toys, mood lights, scent atomizers, cozy blankets, art materials, cameras, and memory books. These items offer warmth and emotional support to both the children and their families.
Funded by local community efforts such as cake stalls, raffles, and silent auctions, the initiative has helped families and communities over the past 12 years. The care cases are available in hospital wards and can be delivered to homes through mobile units. The impact is quiet but lasting, showing how small gestures of kindness can bring peace and healing during life’s hardest moments.