Supporting the Care that Aunt Judy’s Trolley Brings to Red Cross Children’s Hospital

Photo Credit: Children’s Hospital Trust

While many families will gather around festive tables this season, others will spend their days beside a hospital bed, wondering how they will afford a taxi fare or a change of clothes. Your support for Aunt Judy’s trolley helps ease that burden, providing vital essentials to parents while their little ones receive the medical care they need.

Cape Town, South Africa (03 November 2026) – Every day, parents sit beside their children at Red Cross War Memorial Children’s Hospital while the medical team provides the care their little ones need. For many families, being at the hospital takes more than love. It can also mean finding taxi fare that’s hard to budget for, a meal to eat while waiting, and clean clothes and toiletries when they’re far from home.

When Judy Govender, affectionately known as Aunty Judy, wheels her trolley down the passages at Red Cross Children’s Hospital, the children know something good is on its way!

The trolley is filled with snack packs, clean clothes, blankets and toiletries. Judy coordinates the Family Care Project, working with the hospital’s social workers to get the right support to each family at one of the hardest moments they may face.

“You see their faces light up,” says Judy Govender, Family Care Project coordinator, describing the difference this support makes for a child and family in need.

Thanks to the items she distributes, a parent who arrived with nothing but the clothes they’re wearing can shower and change. A caregiver spending a cold night at the hospital can wrap up in a warm fleece. And a child facing a long clinic day can enjoy a snack and a smile.

“It’s about the wellness of the child, and that goes beyond the walls of the hospital,” says Judy.

This festive season, many families will gather around a table. Others will spend the day beside a hospital bed, figuring out how to make it back tomorrow. Doctors and nurses will provide the care, and the Children’s Hospital Trust, the charity arm of the Red Cross Hospital, invites you to help ease the practical challenges that can make it harder for a parent to stay close. When you give, you help keep Aunty Judy’s trolley full.

Your donation supports the Family Care Project, which helps the hospital provide practical support to families facing particular challenges. To help a parent ‘be there’, consider leaving a donation here.