Some of the most important support in our community happens quietly, in hospital corridors and community hall playrooms. That is where you will find the team from the Little Miracles Trust, working with whānau whose babies arrive early or need extra care.
Father’s Day is a good example. When your baby is in a Neonatal Intensive Care Unit or a Special Care Baby Unit, the day looks nothing like the ads. Instead of celebrating at home, dads might be sitting beside an incubator, waiting for an update, learning how to care for a baby attached to machines and monitors, or simply wishing they could take away everything their precious wee one is going through. To bring a little joy and normality to that day, the Little Miracles Trust gives a small gift to every dad with a baby in intensive care.
The other piece of mahi we have loved hearing about is the free playgroup running at the Mt Albert Community and Leisure Centre, open to all NICU and SCBU graduates from around the region. This is a specialised playgroup run by the Little Miracles Trust team in conjunction with a physiotherapist, who provides advice and guidance for parents of premature and high risk babies in a safe environment. Very few attendees would be able to afford the services of a therapist privately.
Just as importantly, the playgroup gives whānau of babies with similar health and developmental needs the chance to network and support one another, peer to peer, without judgement. Families in this situation are often socially isolated because of their children’s health needs, and connection like this has been proven to greatly assist and enhance outcomes.
“Many thanks again for the difference your funding is making,” says Samantha Bennett, Funding Manager at the Little Miracles Trust.
The Little Miracles Trust received $20,000 through our Your West Support Fund in the 2026 round.We help with the funding. The care, the gifts, the playgroup and the quiet reassurance for parents on the hardest days of their lives, that all comes from the amazing work of the Little Miracles team.
Learn more about the Little Miracles Trust at littlemiraclestrust.org.nz or follow them on Facebook.
If you or your organisation could use support from The Trusts, find out how to apply at thetrusts.co.nz/our-funds.
