Our history

The Sydney Kids Committee was formed in April 1993 to support the Sydney Children’s Hospital, Randwick and to extend the fundraising arm of the hospital to a wider and younger audience. The Young Christopher Robin Committee (as it was then known) was formed by children and friends of the Christopher Robin Committee, an established fundraising committee of the Sydney Children’s Hospital. The name (Young Christopher Robin Committee) wasn’t chosen until some months into the establishment of the committee, with other names such as Winnie the Pooh Committee considered to ensure a direct relationship with the Christopher Robin Committee.

In 2002 the committee experienced it’s first name change. With the changes to tax laws and the introduction of the GST and the legal implications surrounding the use of the Christopher Robin name in the title and the Disney logo’s, the committee sought legal assistance and was advised to change its name to YCRC. This name change led to a lack of identity with potential sponsors and supporters asking what YCRC stood for. In addition to this many of the committee members were no longer regarded as young and the name may have limited those who were interested in joining but felt they didn’t fall into the category of young. Interestingly enough at the 2002 Rainbow Ball a guest who attended informed the President of the committee that the name YRCR lacked any meaning and identity and the committee name would be hard to market. This guest went on stage later that night and made other guests who wanted to sing on stage with him donate $200.00 to the event. The song that was song was the bands signature song – “What’s my scene”. The guest was Hoodo Guru’s lead singer – Dave Faulkner.

After the 2002 ball the committee realised that YCRC was not a name that could be either branded or representative of the objectives of the committee. The committee wanted a name that would be seen as representing the children of Sydney. The name Sydney Kids Committee was suggested by the Director of Emergency of Sydney Children’s Hospital – Dr Matthew O’Meara. The suggested name was well received by the committee members and a new logo was created. Both the name and the logo received the approval of the Sydney Children’s Hospital Executive and the Sydney Children’s Hospital Foundation. This name and logo has remained with the committee since then and is synonymous with our annual fundraising event the Winter Rainbow Ball.