Pro Bono Impact at the Royal Melbourne Hospital - MILL’S KITCHEN CHARITY

Logo featuring a shield with a star, a rectangle, and a cross on a dark blue background.
Group of ten professionally dressed people standing in a hallway, smiling at the camera.

Mill's Kitchen, founded and led by NUMI Co-Founder Melissa Chen, is a long-standing philanthropic initiative dedicated to supporting The Royal Melbourne Hospital and the broader healthcare community. For more than 14 years, Melissa and the NUMI team have combined design expertise, fundraising, hospitality, and community engagement to create meaningful impact beyond the built environment. Through pro bono interior design services, fundraising events, industry partnerships, and the generosity of supporters, this ongoing commitment has helped improve spaces for patients, families, and frontline healthcare workers. Guided by a shared belief in the power of care, connection, and giving back, Mill's Kitchen and NUMI continue to champion initiatives that enhance wellbeing, foster dignity, and create lasting change within one of Australia's leading healthcare institutions.

Each year, NUMI contributes approximately $50,000 in pro bono interior design services, focusing on the refurbishment of essential staff spaces that support wellbeing, recovery, and resilience. Recent projects include the ICU Staff Room redesign, creating a restorative environment for more than 500 frontline healthcare workers.

Through Mill's Kitchen fundraising events, personally hosted and prepared by Melissa, together with the support of donors, partners, and the broader community, over $683,000 has been raised for The Royal Melbourne Hospital. These contributions have helped fund improvements across Oncology, ICU Waiting Rooms, Boyne Russell House, Cyril Jewell House, and other critical healthcare environments.

This partnership reflects NUMI's belief that design can create meaningful impact beyond the built environment, strengthening communities through generosity, connection, and care.

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