Partnering for good for Starship
Starship, Ruby Seeto and Wallace Cotton
Ruby Seeto has been working with Wallace Cotton since 2009, when she was an 11-year-old cancer survivor, designing colourful tea towels to raise funds for Starship, our national children’s hospital. Ruby’s tea towels have become collectors’ items over the years and her new designs are always eagerly anticipated. Read on to learn how the young patients and families of Starship have benefited from our partnership and discover her latest design.
Raising funds together
The proceeds from the sale of Ruby’s tea towels have enabled us to raise more than $910,000 together. The funds raised from Ruby’s Fresh Tomato Salad Tea Towel design for 2025 helped support a multi-million dollar transformational Oncology Project focusing on childhood cancer treatment in NZ. The Oncology Project aims to establish an advanced cell therapies programme, including Car T Cell Therapy, to offer haematology and oncology leaders a two-year training fellowship, and refurbish the Bone Marrow Transplant Unit to provide world-class care in New Zealand.
Over the past 17 years, funds raised from Ruby’s tea towels have assisted with multiple projects in Starship Hospital to benefit young patients and their families, including:
Supporting upgrades to the Oncology, Neurology, Medical Specialties wards and a Parent Education Room in the Heart ward.
Equipment for the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit.
Supporting an international training fellowship.
Refurbishing the Phlebotomy Laboratory.
The establishment of an ovarian cryopreservation banking protocol to benefit young cancer patients.
Funding new equipment for the Day Stay Unit.
Helping fund a Hospital Play Specialist to work with young patients.
Upgrading the Children’s Emergency Department tearoom.
The Kōrero Pono Project, providing critical insight into whānau experiences of child cancer services.
Home Hydration for Adolescents Project, enabling young cancer patients to receive part of their treatment in the comfort of their own homes following chemotherapy.
A transformational Oncology Project focusing on childhood cancer treatment in NZ.
Starship Jelly
Ruby Seeto has shared a sweet treat on her 18th Wallace Cotton tea towel design for Starship. Ruby’s Starship Jelly Tea Towel features a jelly dessert in pretty pastel tones with an easy to make recipe to be served with fresh berries (and of course ice cream). Ruby’s latest design nods to the longtime staple of jelly and ice cream often given to children when in hospital. Beautiful, practical and giftable, Ruby’s Starship tea towels are the little gifts that give twice. $6 from the sale of every Ruby Seeto tea towel and $4 from every washcloth set is donated directly to the Starship Foundation, to benefit the young patients and families of Starship
Children’s Hospital.
Proceeds from Ruby’s Jelly Tea Towel and Washcloths will fund an upgrade to the radiology department at Starship. Most Starship patients will need imaging of some sort during their stay, if not multiple times including X-rays, CT scans, ultrasounds and MRIs. In 2025, over 44,500 imaging procedures were performed. With no renovations in 20 years, the radiology department is long overdue for a refresh. The upgrade will provide a more welcoming space offering a sense of peace and calm in an environment that can be a bit scary and overwhelming for young patients and their families.