Stella Bella Foundation

Stella Bella Foundation Providing tailored support to seriously ill children, and their families, when they need it most. Read more about our Little Star Beads Program.

Stella Bella Little Stars Foundation Is a Canberra charity that has been supporting seriously ill children and their families in the ACT region since 2012. We provide a range of much needed services to families to help them through some of their toughest times whilst their child is living with a serious illness. Our programs include:

Financial Assistance – We assist families who are struggling fi

nancially, whilst caring for a seriously ill child. We provide food and petrol vouchers, pay for chemist accounts, emergency accommodation and
other more tailored assistance as required. Bereavement Support – Financial grants and memorial jewellery are provided for families on the sad occasion of the loss of a child. We also actively support families who are caring for their child in palliative care, in any way we can, to help them spend as much time as they can with their precious child. The Stella Bella Children’s Centre – Our innovative respite and care centre for seriously ill babies and children, is the first of it’s kind. Our centre provides parents with desperately needed respite and offers
their children the opportunity to play and learn in a safe and beautiful environment with specialised staff. Family support – We offer a range of supports for families to help them in their journey caring for their seriously ill child. We provide hundreds of meals each year to the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at the
Canberra Hospital for parents who are far from home and struggling to care for themselves whilst caring for their sick little baby. We also host free seasonal events and an annual family camp to offer families the chance to share experiences and friendship and to make happy memories together in a safe and understanding environment. Children in our Little Star Beads Program receive beads for specific medical procedures and milestones in their treatment, and use them to create a string of beads to tell the story of their own personal journey. These bead strings become a very special memento for the children and their families, and are a symbol of pride and courage for all of the challenges that they have overcome. We also offer tailored support to families going through the worse time of all, the death of a child, including providing memorial keepsake jewellery, hand and foot prints, financial grants and anything else that may be needed to help out in such a tragic time for families. Stella Bella Little Stars Foundation is registered with the Australian Charities and Non profits Commission and holds DGR status so all donations over $2 are tax deductible, as well as being gratefully received and put to very good use supporting seriously ill children and their families. For more info, please visit https://stellabellalittlestars.org.au
or phone 0423439889.

We delivered many gorgeous bunnies and eggs to all of the little babies, and their parents, in the NICU and Special Car...
05/04/2026

We delivered many gorgeous bunnies and eggs to all of the little babies, and their parents, in the NICU and Special Care Nurseries in Canberra this weekend.
We hope they had some fun today and that they all get home very soon 🐰❤️🐰

Happy Easter to all of our little stars and to our very kind supporters. 🐰We had some Easter fun last weekend for the fa...
05/04/2026

Happy Easter to all of our little stars and to our very kind supporters. 🐰
We had some Easter fun last weekend for the families in our programs with a hunt in the trees, cupcake decorating, painting, and lots of happy connection.❤️
We hope you are all enjoying this wonderful long weekend together and making special family memories ###

This week marks the 9th birthday of the Stella Bella Children's Centre. On our first day open, we had one dear child, Em...
27/03/2026

This week marks the 9th birthday of the Stella Bella Children's Centre.

On our first day open, we had one dear child, Emma, and 5 staff. Stella’s sister, Ruby, came along for the day just so Emma had another child to play with ☺️

Since that day we’ve had hundreds of children grace our rooms and playgrounds and they’ve had all sorts of fun and adventures and been genuinely cared for with kindness and thoughtful intention.
Emma stayed with us all the way through to big school and I still miss that sweet and clever little child, and the many other wonderful children that I have come to know and love over the years too.

There have been lots and lots of happy days, some tricky ones too, but the concept of having this very special centre turned into something better than even I could’ve imagined and I know that the opportunity for early education and care that we have been able to offer children with chronic medical conditions, in our Galahs unit, has been life changing for them and their families too.

Huge thanks to everyone who helped to bring the dream of our centre to fruition and to all of the amazing educators, nurses, cooks and support staff that have made it all happen each day since.

Special thanks to all of the families who have entrusted their children to our team and who have gone the extra mile to cooperate with our extra policies to help us to protect the more fragile children in our dear little community.

It really does take a village to raise children, and I think we’ve created a wonderful one, so happy birthday to us!🎂🎈🥳❤️

What a wonderful and so well deserved honour to Blackshaw Gungahlin who have helped our charity to grow over the years t...
22/03/2026

What a wonderful and so well deserved honour to Blackshaw Gungahlin who have helped our charity to grow over the years to support thousands of families in times of great need with food and fuel vouchers, emergency accomodation, meals in hospital, bereavement grants, out dear Little Star Beads program, and to offer opportunities for connection, education and care, and happy memory making for children living with a serious illness. We are so very grateful and wish the team all of the luck in the universe.
They are already winners to us! 🏆🌟

Honoured to be selected as a finalist at the Real Estate Institute of Australia's National Awards for Excellence 2026 for our work in raising money for the Stella Bella Foundation. $74,000 in 2025, and $325,580 to date. ✨ We'll represent the ACT on 21st May in Melbourne. Wish us luck!

Stella Bella Foundation
Real Estate Institute of Australia - REIA

When you are a parent caring for a seriously ill child in hospital, it's often a big challenge finding the time to look ...
17/03/2026

When you are a parent caring for a seriously ill child in hospital, it's often a big challenge finding the time to look after yourself with healthy and yummy meals, but thanks to our wonderful volunteers from Projects Assured we are able to stock up the freezer to help feed parents here in Canberra.

Thank you 🙏 for visiting the Stella Bella Children's Centre to cook and package 50 meals that will go to the Canberra Hospital to feed parents caring for children in the NICU and Special Care Nursery 💖

It was another busy night in the Stella Bella Children's Centre kitchen as these incredible volunteers from Projects Ass...
28/01/2026

It was another busy night in the Stella Bella Children's Centre kitchen as these incredible volunteers from Projects Assured cooked up a fresh batch of healthy meals for parents caring for children in the Canberra Hospital NICU and Special Care Nursery.

They brought along all the ingredients, recipes and packaging to prepare another 40 delicious meals, made with love and kindness. ❤️

We thank them for all their work as these meals are much needed in the hospital right now by the many parents caring for sick children. 👏

Good food is a priority for the little stars 🌟 in our care ❤️
12/01/2026

Good food is a priority for the little stars 🌟 in our care ❤️

A healthy start to the week with a big batch of freshly cooked brown rice, chicken, broccoli and pea salad for lunch. Our wholesome meals are all cooked in-house using fresh ingredients so that the children enjoy nutritious and yummy food for lunch and snacks ❤️

New Years Eve means different things and feelings for all of us but for me, I like to mark the passing of one year into ...
31/12/2025

New Years Eve means different things and feelings for all of us but for me, I like to mark the passing of one year into the next with thoughts of how I’d like the new year to pan out. So this is what I wish for myself, and for my family in the coming year, and for all of the families in our programs, our supporters, our volunteers and our board members and our staff ❤️

I think we could all use as much happiness as we can possibly find in our days, no matter where or how we spend them in 2026. Also, plenty of restful moments. Some peaceful time in nature. Lots of fun time with our families and favourite friends. Time and energy to prioritise our health. Lots of comfort in our hard times, however that looks. Opportunities for adventure and dream chasing. Lots of laughter. Lots of connection with like minded folk. A good helping of gratefulness. Kindness and opportunities to help others, and to be able to accept help sometimes too. More peace all through the community and the world too! Sounds like a lot but hopefully we all have another whole 365 days to enjoy and to achieve the things that mean a lot to each of us, no matter what they are.
Happy New Year! I’m looking forward to 2026 and I hope it’s full of sparkle and joy for you all 🥳

Lots of love, Suzanne ###

25/12/2025

Merry Christmas to all of the kind and caring folk in the Stella Bella community and to all of the families we do our best to support throughout the year ❤️
We hope you have had some joy and sparkle in your day, no matter where you are or what challenges you are facing, and that you have been able to spend some time with those you love and had a little fun and laughter too.
Our Christmas wish is for you to carry that joy forward into the days ahead to help keep them bright and peaceful and that you stay safe and well ⭐️

With lots of love,
Suzanne and the Stella Bella team ###

One of the loveliest things about Christmas is the way the community comes together to help make sure that everyone gets...
24/12/2025

One of the loveliest things about Christmas is the way the community comes together to help make sure that everyone gets a little treat and some joy, especially for those who are struggling in some way.
Each year we work with Santa to deliver Christmas stockings and special beanies to every little baby in hospital in Canberra so that on Christmas morning they, and their parents get, something to brighten their day and enjoy some Christmas cheer. 🎅

This year ladies of the Country Women’s Association CWA Braidwood branch, kindly sewed the gorgeous little stockings and knitted the beautiful bears for all of the babies. 🧸

The D’Aquino family donated sweet little books, chocolates and hand cream to go inside the stockings once again too, and our very own Mel Walters, with some help from Bev, made the adorable Christmas tree beanies. ❤️

We are just so grateful to everyone for all of the efforts they went to so that these dear little ones, and their families, get to enjoy some Christmas spirit, even though they are in hospital and going through a pretty hard time.

Thank you to everyone who contributed this year to these special gifts, we know 50 families will feel very, very cared for this Christmas morning! 🎄

What an awesome finish to the year with a huge working bee at our Stella Bella Children's Centre and office by 38 energe...
22/12/2025

What an awesome finish to the year with a huge working bee at our Stella Bella Children's Centre and office by 38 energetic and enthusiastic staff from St Clare's College last week!

In less than 3 hours they mulched and weeded the whole front yard and our fairy garden courtyard, dug, raked and prepped the whole special care yard for reseeding, built a big new chicken coop, cooked 80 meals for the hospital, wrapped hundreds of presents, made up hampers and put together some outdoor furniture!

Such an incredible effort and outcome and we are just so grateful that they chose us as one of their community partnerships for this volunteering event and we hope they all realized just how much this huge team effort has meant for us and for all of the families is has benefited for Christmas and for the year ahead ❤️

Are you travelling to Goulburn before Christmas? We need a special delivery elf to take 3 little bundles of presents to ...
18/12/2025

Are you travelling to Goulburn before Christmas?
We need a special delivery elf to take 3 little bundles of presents to families in Goulburn before Christmas 🎁

Presents can be picked up from Kingston or Fyshwick. Please get in touch by commenting below, messaging us or by email to stellabellahq@gmail.com.
Thank you for helping us to bring some extra joy to families this Christmas 🎄

Address

Stella Bella Children's Centre, 7 Maryborough Street
Canberra, ACT
2609

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