Variety brings sunshine to the lives of thousands of needy children through our Sunshine Coaches. Special Schools and other organisations have been the grateful recipients of a fleet of 1079 coaches travelling Australia, transporting children to their daily activities and other special life experiences.

Variety provides two types of coaches: 12 Seat Ford Transit or 25 Seat Mitsubishi Rosa. Sunshine Coaches are only available with manual transmission and are easy to convert for wheelchair access.

The Sunshine Coach programme is a self-funding part of Variety – meaning we ask applicants to raise funds to contribute to the coach. In most cases, the children's organisation will contribute one third of the on-road costs, Variety one third and a sponsor is sought for the final third. In some instances Variety will accept a lesser contribution if the organisation is seen to be making an effort to fundraise and have exhausted all avenues. Also, if the organisation has a vehicle which can be traded in, this money can be used as part of the contribution.

Once an application is received it is tabled at the monthly Sunshine Coach committee meeting and a committee member will be assigned to work with your organisation. You will receive a personal visit by the committee member to see your facility and type of service offered to children. Once the committee is satisfied with your application and contribution, your application will be presented to your state’s Variety Board for approval. If you are successful in your application you will then receive a letter advising of the approval.

Once approved, the ordering of coach, signwriting, wheelchair conversions, registrations etc, are all organised by the Variety office. Our Sunshine Coaches are registered in the name of the recipient. The Variety office will also liaise with the organisation regarding an official presentation and local publicity.

In 2007, Variety invested $1.36 million to grant 30 sunshine coaches to children’s institutions nationally.

For application details please contact the Variety office in your state.