Latest / 360 with Katie Woolf / Katie Woolf spoke with Starlight Foundation CEO Louise Baxter and NT Chair Justin Coleman

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Katie Woolf spoke with Starlight Foundation CEO Louise Baxter and NT Chair Justin Coleman · 360 with Katie Woolf

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Three sixty with Katie Wolf thanks to Joyce Main Darwin
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  Speaker 1: Homes own Stuart Highway Beerrima.
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  Speaker 2: You are listening to Mix one O four point nine's
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  Speaker 2: three sixty. It is just ten minutes or nine minutes
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  Speaker 2: away from eleven o'clock and we know it's such a
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  Speaker 2: busy weekend, so many wonderful events happening this weekend, and
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  Speaker 2: you'd have to say, one of the highlights on that
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  Speaker 2: calendar is the Starlight Ball and joining us in the
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  Speaker 2: studio right now to talk more about what we can
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  Speaker 2: expect and also more about this wonderful cause. It is
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  Speaker 2: the Starlight Foundation CEO Louise Baxter. Good morning to you, Louise.
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  Speaker 3: Morning Katie.
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  Speaker 2: Lovely to have you in the studio. And Justin Coleman,
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  Speaker 2: who is indeed part of the wonderful committee that organizes
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  Speaker 2: this great event.
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  Speaker 1: Good morning morning Katie.
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  Speaker 2: Great to have you both here. Firstly, Louise, can you
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  Speaker 2: tell us a little bit more about the Starlight Foundation
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  Speaker 2: for those out there listening who maybe don't know a
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  Speaker 2: huge amount about it.
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  Speaker 3: Absolutely, the Starlight Children's Foundation brightens the lives of seriously
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  Speaker 3: or children. For a family who has a really serious diagnosis,
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  Speaker 3: there life, life, and the kid's life is just changed forever.
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  Speaker 3: And so what we do at Starlight is we transform
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  Speaker 3: that pain, fear, and stress into fun, laughter, and joy,
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  Speaker 3: and this improves health outcomes. And this is because happiness matters,
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  Speaker 3: especially happiness in childhood. And so from our perspective, every
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  Speaker 3: child deserves to be happy, even those children who are
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  Speaker 3: in hospital facing really challenging situations and in a lot
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  Speaker 3: of pain.
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  Speaker 2: And for a lot of us as parents, we actually
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  Speaker 2: can't even imagine that, you know, if you have if
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  Speaker 2: you're fortunate enough to have very healthy children, you cannot
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  Speaker 2: even imagine what it would be like to live through
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  Speaker 2: a diagnosis or live through a really tough health condition
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  Speaker 2: where your children are in and out of hospital, and
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  Speaker 2: then trying to, you know, to make their lives a
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  Speaker 2: little bit more enjoyable and bring a smile to their
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  Speaker 2: faces is such an important thing to do.
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  Speaker 3: You're absolutely right, And often the parents will say to
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  Speaker 3: us that for the first time in months, their child
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  Speaker 3: smiles when they're when they engage with Captains Starlight, and
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  Speaker 3: for some of these children, they become the illness and
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  Speaker 3: for the parents, they know their child is still there
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  Speaker 3: within this and what Starlight is about We're about that
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  Speaker 3: child within the illness. We never ask about the illness,
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  Speaker 3: about the diagnosis, the surgery. We're just about the child,
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  Speaker 3: and that's incredibly important. So it maintains that sense of
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  Speaker 3: self and confidence and fun for the child.
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  Speaker 2: Now, I would imagine that this kind of local fundraising
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  Speaker 2: is such an important aspect of being able to ensure
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  Speaker 2: that you've got the Captain Starlight's in there, able to
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  Speaker 2: put a smile on the kids' faces, justin what can
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  Speaker 2: we expect tonight at this tremendous ball, which is a
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  Speaker 2: real highlight I think of everyone's social calendar.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, look, there's a lot of fun to be expected,
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  Speaker 1: I think, you know. We the concept of the ball
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  Speaker 1: is to raise money for a serious topic but in
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  Speaker 1: a fun way, which is kind of how Starlight runs
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  Speaker 1: as well. So look, we've we've got six hundred and
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  Speaker 1: fifty people there tonight. This is our excellent thirteenth year.
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  Speaker 1: We had a break here last year with COVID raised.
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  Speaker 1: This ball was raised nearly two point six million dollars
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  Speaker 1: over that period for Stala and all that money has
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  Speaker 1: stayed in the territory in that time. So the captains
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  Speaker 1: obviously do a really important job. They're outreach programs, so
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  Speaker 1: they're not just based in the hospital. And so look,
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  Speaker 1: we've got a really motivated, fantastic committee and we have
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  Speaker 1: some you know, a lot of really good sponsors who
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  Speaker 1: have been with us from the start. So basically it's
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  Speaker 1: a bit of fun, but there's some serious sight to it.
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  Speaker 1: We do. Our main fundraising is through our raffles with
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  Speaker 1: the Passapali Raffle and the Hoskins Raffle, major auction items
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  Speaker 1: soil on oction items and another fundraising events during the
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  Speaker 1: during the evening, we've got our entertainment tonight, We've got
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  Speaker 1: some really special guests, Laser Man who've been trying to
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  Speaker 1: get up for about ten years, so the planets have
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  Speaker 1: a line this year to get him here. Hot Dub
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  Speaker 1: time machines a little bit different with the entertainment, so
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  Speaker 1: she should get everyone up dancing and Sarastora is singing
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  Speaker 1: to the Starlight video this year, and she's just done
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  Speaker 1: an amazing piece of artwork that'll also be auctioned off
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  Speaker 1: during the nights.
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  Speaker 2: That's so cool. And then Louise, when it comes to
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  Speaker 2: this kind of fundraising, how important is it that events
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  Speaker 2: like this happen in the Northern Territory in terms of
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  Speaker 2: being able to continue the great work that the Starlight
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  Speaker 2: Foundation does.
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  Speaker 3: Katie, it is incredibly important. Starlight would not be here
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  Speaker 3: for the kids of the Northern Territory if it wasn't
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  Speaker 3: for Starbucks. So their support enabled us to actually bring
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  Speaker 3: our Starlight programs in a consistent way into the NT.
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  Speaker 3: And you know, since then, we've actually built our Starlight
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  Speaker 3: Express Room in the hospital. We're quite right, We're in
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  Speaker 3: over one hundred and forty remote Aboriginal and Torres Strait
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  Speaker 3: Islander communities. We go fly and fly out with the
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  Speaker 3: clinicians and they see enormous impact from that because they
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  Speaker 3: see three times as many children. The children are more relaxed.
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  Speaker 3: It reframes that interaction and healthcare and if we're going
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  Speaker 3: to change the health outcomes for these kids, we really
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  Speaker 3: need that. So fundraising like Starbull this evening is incredibly
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  Speaker 3: important for Starlight. We would not be able to do
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  Speaker 3: what we do without it.
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  Speaker 2: It is so important and it's so wonderful the work
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  Speaker 2: that the local committee does in terms of making that happen.
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  Speaker 2: Tell you what, everybody, get ready, get your wallets, ready,
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  Speaker 2: high and be ready to bid tonight.
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  Speaker 1: Absolutely, there'll be something for everyone, don't so you know,
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  Speaker 1: whatever level of support you can give, there's something for everyone.
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  Speaker 1: And I'd really like to thank the Dual Convention Center
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  Speaker 1: for the work they've done. I like to thank MITXE
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  Speaker 1: fan as well for all support you give us throughout
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  Speaker 1: the year. And look there there's a heapous once I want,
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  Speaker 1: I want to go and list them all, but so
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  Speaker 1: much support from the community. Look forward to tonight and
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  Speaker 1: see every one there.
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  Speaker 2: Oh wonderful stuff. Well, I hope it's a fantastic evening.
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  Speaker 2: Thank you both so much for taking the time to
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  Speaker 2: come in and have a chat to us this morning.
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  Speaker 2: Thanks so much, Katie, thank you you are listening to
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  Speaker 2: mix one O four point nine's three sixty and that
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  Speaker 2: was a Starlight Foundation CEO there, Luise Baxter and Justin Coleman,
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  Speaker 2: who is the chair of the Life Local Committee here
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  Speaker 2: in the Northern Territory.