AA Insurance has partnered with children’s charity Variety in its Beds for Kids programmes to provide beds to thousands of New Zealand children with inadequate or no beds of their own. The announcement followed new data from Variety showing that 28,000 children are hospitalised every year in New Zealand for preventable illnesses caused by inadequate sleeping conditions.
“Seventy-seven hospital admissions per day is a shocking statistic,” said Variety chief executive Susan Glasgow. “These children come from our poorest communities. They are sleeping on the floor, on couches, on mouldy mattresses, or sharing beds with siblings, which means sharing viruses and other serious illnesses.”
Forty-one per cent of those children have mouldy bedding, 18% have no mattress, and 24% have no bed at all.
As the lead partner of the Beds for Kids programme, AA Insurance has launched its “Dream Beds” campaign, auctioning eight beds dreamed up by Kiwi kids on TradeMe from Oct. 14 to 20. Proceeds go to Variety to fund more beds and bedding for children in need.
The campaign encourages people to see a bed as something that impacts children’s potential instead of just a piece of furniture.
“As the lead partner of Variety’s Beds for Kids programme, AA Insurance hopes to help more Kiwi kids fulfil their potential, starting with a good night’s sleep,” said AA Insurance general manager Richard Park. “It is important that every New Zealand child has a bed of their own, and we are proud … to bring this dream to life for hundreds of children across Aotearoa.”
