‘I have a bulls**t job’: Why Kochie supports the Good Friday Appeal

THERE’S a reason Sunrise veteran David Koch has spent every Good Friday for the past 12 years in Melbourne, raising money for sick kids.

David Koch and Mark Beretta at last year’s Royal Children’s Hospital Good Friday telethon. Picture: Ian Currie

THERE’S a reason Sunrise veteran David Koch has spent every Good Friday for the past 12 years in Melbourne, raising money for sick kids.

Because his job is “bulls**t”.

When he compares it to the jobs done by workers at Melbourne’s Royal Children’s Hospital every day, he says, it pales into significance.

“We’re not saving lives,” says Koch ahead of his 13th visit as part of a stable of Seven celebrities to lend their support to the televised appeal.

“We’re not working in operating theatres and emergency rooms and stuff like that.”

So he figures the least he can do is use his profile to raise money to allow others to work the miracles.

“But if we can use our position to encourage people or to put a focus on a great cause, then that’s what we should be doing.”

It’s a value he’s instilled into his own kids. And grandkids.

“I’m not being corny here; it’s one of my values. I truly believe you’re on this Earth to try to improve it,” he says.

For that reason, this year he will have a pretty cute sidekick along with him on the trip to Melbourne: 10-year-old granddaughter Matilda will be his Good Friday Appeal “assistant”.

“She sees Poppy on TV, I took her to the premiere of Peter Rabbit, and her parents and I think she’s old enough to also be shown how important it is to give back to the community,” Koch says.

The Good Friday Appeal is a not-for-profit charity that raises money to enable The Royal Children’s Hospital to provide world-class care for kids.

The annual fundraiser culminates in a 15-hour telethon on Good Friday, hosted by Channel Seven.

Kochie helping out in 2016, with Chloe O’Neill (left) and Simone Lionetti. Picture: Ian Currie

The Good Friday Appeal was started by a couple of Sporting Globe journalists in 1931, who wanted to run a sports carnival and raise funds for sick children.

It grew. And grew. In its 87-year history it has raised more than $327 million.

“It is so important. It’s extraordinary and it changes your life,” says Koch.

“I’ve had life-changing experiences as part of it. And I feel very privileged to be part of it.”

It got personal for Koch about 10 years ago when during the telethon he was wandering through the hospital and met “an incredible young lady who reminded me of my own daughters, walking around pulling her mechanical heart awaiting a heart transplant”.

They chatted, and he walked away, bowled over by her vitality and enthusiasm, only to receive the sobering news the girl would die waiting for a heart donation, because the wait list was so long, and organ donation rates so small.

Home & Away actor Sophie Dillman — who used to be a nurse — visits Zoe Tracy, 13, at the hospital. A host of Seven talent is part of the Good Friday appeal. Picture: Jason Edwards

It prompted him to begin campaigning to overhaul the way Australia approached organ donation. He spent time as chairman of the Organ and Tissue Authority, making inroads into increasing the rate of organ donation, and make the process of organ replacement smoother.

Four years ago, Koch was at the annual appeal, and was told someone wanted to meet him.

“You thought I was dead, didn’t you,” the young woman said.

“And she was right,” Koch says. “She said she’d heard me tell her story and been watching what I was doing to campaign.”

The pair remain in touch, she’s been welcomed by the whole Koch family, and the pair catch a few AFL games together each season.

“Her life has turned out to be remarkable,” Koch says.

The rise of chuggers (charity muggers) bailing us up for donations daily, and telephoning us at mealtimes asking us to support their cause hasn’t dented the success of big appeals like the Good Friday Appeal, Koch says.

“Appeals like this are so ingrained in the community and have the trust and confidence in the community ... in a world where we are now asked to contribute so often,” he says.

“Most of them are terrific causes, but it’s constant and we get jaded,” Koch says.

“I think people then turn to the big ones they know.”

His theory seems solid: in 2017 the appeal raised a record $17.6 million.

Channel Seven’s Royal Children’s Hospital Good Friday Appeal is on Seven on Friday, March 30, from 9am.

Flashback to 2009: Melissa Doyle and Kochie are longtime supporters of the appeal. Ed Sheeran's Good Friday message (2017)