Starship Log

This special Starship patient joined Angela D'Audney, Lucy Lawless, Sir Howard and Temuera Morrison [to] promote our 2001 Annual Appeal.

Sophie Ruthven fondly regards the Starship as a home away from home. That tells you how much time she's spent in the national children's hospital lately bravely battling her complex neurological condition, hydrocephalus.

The energetic 13-year-old has recently been completely absorbed in a Starship whirlwind-undergoing two major operations in recent weeks as well as being the "face" of our Starship Annual Appeal in July.

TVNZ broadcaster, Angela D'Audney, our international star, Lucy Lawless, entertainer Sir Howard Morrison and his nephew and Hollywood hero, Temuera Morrison, joined Sophie in backing the appeal.

This impressive line up of truly special people all helped to push the sale of our irresistable $3 Star Bears from the ASB BANK and The Warehouse. Star Bear sales began with a roar and remained strong throughout the month. An audit will be completed soon to confirm sales figures.

The ASB BANK also ran it's traditional Starship Term Investment Appeal, from which it donated $5 for every investment made. And Mercury Energy made life happier for our patients by buying 3000 Star Bears and donating them back to the hospital.

Many of Lucy Lawless' US-based fans have also kicked into action, using our new website www.starship.org.nz to support our great cause.

Our thanks to Sophie, our celebrities and sponsors. The NZ Herald, TVNZ and TV3 also gave key media support through positive news stories and advertising space. New Zealand band Nurture, also kindly allowed us to use their song, Beautiful, on our TV ad, created without charge thanks to ad agency, DDB, and Touchdown Productions.

A big thank you also to all of you who supported the appeal by either buying a Star Bear, investing in the ASB BANK or responding to our Annual Appeal letter. It will certainly help us raise our target of $2.5 million for neurosurgery equipment by the end of the year, when Starship turns 10.

We will keep you up to date on progress. With your help, we're confident we'll make it.

Compliments on our new website at www.starship.org.nz continue to roll in since it was launched in early April.

During July we were fortunate to have the support of the following major websites, which promoted our Annual Appeal: XtraMSN, nzoom, stuff, nz herald, nzgirl, IDG, SearchNZ and NZ City. Several International websites dedicated to Lucy Lawless and her hit television show Xena: Warrior Princess have also promoted our site and our fundraising.

This has lead to hundreds of people each day surfing our website, sponsored by ASB BANK. The record so far is around 2300 pages of our website being viewed in one day, with one visitor staying on the site for more than two hours!

All website donors are able to download a free Star Bear screensaver, kindly created by the team at nzoom.com.

Make sure you check our website out and don't miss the fantastic Star Bear screensaver.

The Starship Foundation has long enjoyed the corporate support of Hasbro New Zealand, distributor of the world famous board game Monopoly.

In recognition of Starship's 10th Birthday this year, Hasbro has developed a unique marketing concept that will utilise the phenomenal success of the Monopoly game to raise money for specialist neurosurgery equipment.

The Starship Charity Edition of Monopoly will be launched at the glittering Champagne Bollinger Ball for Starship on September 15.

Monopoly is the world's most popular board game with sales of over 200 million units since the game's inception in 1935. In New Zealand, over 25,000 sets of Monopoly are sold each year. After the launch at the Champagne Bollinger Ball, the Starship Charity Edition of Monopoly will be on sale at the Warehouse.

The board features the following top New Zealand brands and icons, which have joined to make it possible:

Allied Food, ASB BANK, Bartercard NZ, BT Financial Group, Clorox NZ, Hewlett Packard, Mainzeal, Mercury Energy, NZ Lotteries Commission, Oracle NZ, Philips Medical Systems NZ, Philips Fox, Rider Hunt Auckland, Rob Tapert and Lucy Lawless, Sealy NZ, Sheffield Consulting, Sword and Staff Club, Telecom NZ, The NZ Herald, The Warehouse.