News & Events

The Jack and Jill Children’s Foundation recently benefited from  ‘An Evening With The Greatest’ the one and only Muhammad Ali in Dublin , an opportunity that was created for Jack and Jill by Alex Kinne-Coyle age 4 from Bray who is a Jack & Jill child and whose father Declan Coyle made the introduction to Dr. Pearse Lyons, president and founder of Alltech earlier this year.  We would like to say a big thank you to Alex and Declan and of course to Dr. Lyons and his team at Alltech for making this possible.
Our CEO Jonathan Irwin said ‘It warms my heart to see how children like Alex and my own son Jack, who may not walk and talk like the rest of us, have such a powerful impact on the people they meet throughout their lives through their own unique charisma and charm.’
“I was lucky enough to attend Muhammad Ali’s fight with Al ‘Blue’ Lewis in Croke Park in 1972 and I’ve been a lifelong fan of the boxer, the man and the legend who continues to be an inspiration to us all.  Thank you Muhammad Ali for taking time out to support Jack & Jill and the 300 families we support today.  The fight goes on.”

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Giddy Studios captures Handprints on Pottery

Giddy studios, a very special pottery painting studio captured Jack and Jill’s little ones handprints and footprints on pottery at family day. Our thanks to Helena from Giddy Studios who kindly doanted a mug to each family on Family day. Visit www.giddystudios.com to find out more about why a trip to giddy is good for you:)

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On the 8th of October 2009 Aria Boutique from Naas and Saggart held their Annual Fashion Show in the Village at Lyons Estate.
The Stunning Event was hosted by Rosanna Davidson with leading Stylist, Cathy O’Connor as the compere. The Catwalk was alive with vibrant fashions, expertly modeled by girls from Assets Modeling Agency.
Our Thanks to Karolynn and her team at Aria for organizing such a fantastic night and for their continued support of Jack and Jill.

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Update from Munster meeting -  Rochestown Park Hotel, Douglas, Cork on Tuesday 30^th June

We had a reasonable turnout of 16 people for our first Munster meeting for families & friends of Jack & Jill on Tuesday 30^th June, the objective of which was to share our national 2009 plan for Jack & Jill and to ask the people on the ground how best to localise it and make it work.  We’d like to say a big thank you to those who turned up and this update summarises what was discussed that night, so that others can tune in and stay connected too.

The new deal for schools whereby they can swap 300 old mobile phones (in any condition) for a new Promethean interactive whiteboard for the classroom was discussed and explored.  (See www.phonesforboards.com for more details.)  All agreed that the best way to promote this deal was to talk about it at the school gates and to approach schools in the local area and ask them if and when they were registering for the new campaign.  It’s easy and it really makes financial sense for schools and if we get enough schools interested we could raise a huge chunk of our budget through this.

We reminded people that mobile phones continue to be the biggest source of income for Jack & Jill with 250 phones buying home nursing care for a sick child for one month.  We are a charity that can demonstrate why charity begins at home and we have a county by county breakdown of the number of families we support and the annual and monthly care bill – which we always push through media interviews.  We are hoping that what we’re calling our “Jack & Jill County Champion Programme” will evolve whereby companies in every county in Ireland will step up to support the Jack & Jill families in their community and absorb the home nursing care bill for 6 to 12 months at a time.  Any family members who work in companies with Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) programmes should let them know about the county by county breakdown from Jack & Jill and get in touch with the office.  One or two attendees from the meeting are interested in finding out more about the Champion Programme and we’ll keep you informed about progress.

Goldrush.ie the new fundraising initiative which encourages people to cash in their stash of gold and help Jack & Jill in the process was also discussed.  The great selling point about this is that Jack & Jill’s Goldrush.ie offers a really good price for unwanted gold and a donation of 21.5% is built into the price.  People are encouraged to check out the rate by logging into www.goldrush.ie We’ve already had a very good response to the initial photocall whereby we painted our patron Eddie Hobbs gold (thank you Eddie) to launch Goldrush.ie and people are already in contact and asking for the special Goldrush bags.  We’ve had good success with our publicity programme around Goldrush and the advertising campaign has also commenced.

One of the main ideas to come out of the meeting was the suggestion that Jack & Jill should keep families and friends connected through a simple newsletter to be produced on a quarterly basis.  This is a great way of explaining new fundraising initiatives but also to share the experiences of families up and down the country and to really promote that sense of one big family and beating the isolation factor.  Our first newsletter will be out in September 2009.

Approaching the medical community, which includes consultants, nurses and social workers, and ensuring that they know about Jack & Jill and the services we provide was presented as a real challenge for 2009.  There are mixed messages out there about Jack & Jill with some consultants promoting the Foundation proactively and positively and others just mentioning it as almost an afterthought, if at all.  We need to develop a way of influencing this key medical target group as they are the people who introduce Jack & Jill to our families.  Publicity in Irish Medical Times is one route and identifying key speaking opportunities for Jonathan Irwin to reach this community is another.

Some of our parents are happy to help with the schools programme and to make presentations about Jack & Jill and our mobile phone fundraising campaign in their local schools.  We are assembling a list of interested parents for this exercise and we will have a training session with this group to ensure they have the right material and are confident about talking to the schools in due course.  Anybody interested should contact the office and put their name down.

Helping families out with local publicity is something we do from the office and we have developed a PR template to help people organising events to make the most of free local publicity for the event and to build Jack & Jill’s reputation.  Check lists, goodie bags etc are something we will be developing over the coming weeks and months.  In the meantime, anyone who needs help with their publicity drive should contact the office and we will put you in touch with Carmel Doyle who is our public relations officer.

At Jack & Jill it is the families who can best tell the story of what we do and how that impacts positively on their lives.  Therefore over the coming months we are looking for more families to be used as reference points for the local media and this is something we do through the liaison nurses.  We are also conducting a research project with Trinity College that will help us to make the economic argument for Jack & Jill by producing the success story behind the organisation in the shape of hard facts and figures, that show how we save the tax payer money.

On a practical note, we recognise that regional meetings should be held on a county by county basis, rather than a whole province, as Cork was simply too far to travel for many families in Munster who we know would like to attend a closer meeting.  This is something we have taken on board for the next meeting.

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Download Cut backs in Special Needs Classes PDf >>

Parents, Your Comments Please.

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Date: 21st December 2009

Total number of participants (over 18only): 50 approx

Duration: 6-7 hours

Adventure Agency fee per person: €30

Includes: Event Concept & Management, Insurance, Qualified & highly experienced guides.

Suggested fundraising target: €90 = Profit for charity: €60

Notes: Participants must pre-register. There will be two options:

1. Lugnacoillte, only for experienced walkers

2. Seefin Mountain, open to all.

 
Winter Solstice Walk

Experience this magical event from the summit of Lugnacoille or deep in the ancient tomb on the summit of Seefin Mountain.

There’s a route for all, whether you’re a seasoned mountaineer or a curious walker!

You’ll be lead by highly qualified and experienced guides, most coming from Mountain Rescue background.

For further details logon to the Adventure Agency Website 

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Mobile marathon from Galway to Dublin

7th, 8th and 9th August

On the Weekend of the 7th, 8th and 9th of August, 39 year old John O’Regan from  Leixlip, Co. Kildare ran a Marathon Relay from Galway to Dublin with the help of Anthony Lee from Clane in Co. Kildare, Padraic Doherty from Maynooth Co. Kildare, and Seamus O’Dowd from Clogherhead in Louth. The aim was to collect Mobile phones along the way and raise awareness for Jack and Jill. A Van load of phones were collected and the the event raised the profile of Jack and Jill, with the marathon being covered in both the national and local media. Our thanks to John and his team and also to the Gala Stores along the route who supported the runners.

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2009 Golf Classic at Powerscourt

After many happy years at Rathsallagh under the wing of the remarkable O’Flynn family the Foundation changed this years venue to Powerscourt Golf Club and the catering and residence to the Ritz Carlton Hotel.

Times being what they are, we played 20 teams rather than the usual 28 and ran the evening without an auction.

An innovation we introduced, perhaps the first Charity to do so was to include Junior(under 18 ) teams in recognition of  the explosion in the young involvement in Golf.

Despite the weather forecast the day became stunning and set off the mountain scenery magnificently. Great golf followed by a great evening.

The result was triumph for youth. Phonsie Irwin’s team of Peter McCreevey, David Whelan and Nathan Geraghty trouncing their elders with the points. David Whelan’s mum was one of Jack Irwin’s nurses while Phonsie is his brother.

The dinner was the Ritz Carlton at its best and The Rat Pack had everyone dancing until 2 a.m. Holes and strokes were exaggerated until after 3 in McGills bar in the hotel

We would like to thank our sponsors on the day who were The Curragh Racecourse, Tipperary Water, BPI Telecom, Powerscourt Golf Club and Lily O’Brien’s chocolate.

The results of the Jack and Jill Classic 2009 were

1st Place - Phonsie Irwin’s Junior Team, with a score of 94. Team members were Phonsie Irwin, Peter McCreevy, David Whelan and Nathan Geraghty

2nd Place - Mark Kavanagh’s Hardwicke Team, with a score of 91. Team members were Maurice Tunney, John Sheridan, Mark Buckley, and Damien Byrne

3rd Place - Owen McManus Martinstown Stud Team witha score of 90. Team members were Al McSweeney, Owen McManus, Noel Nash, and Tom Nash.

4th Place - Jim Kirby’s Martinstown Stud team with a score of 90 also. Team members were Jim Kirby, Con Kirby, Murt Duggan and Mick Fitzpatrick.

Nearest the Pin (Ladies) was Mary Burnell

Nearest the Pin (Men) was David Barrett

Longest Drive (Ladies) was Bernie Cooney

Longest Drive (Mens) was Steven Healy

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Annual Family Day 2009

On the 13th June Jack and Jill held it’s Annual Family Day in Kilmainham Hospital. The sun shone brightly and a fabulous day was had by all, as can be seen in the pictures below . Our thanks to Mary Hanafin, The Minister for Social and Family Affairs, who took time out of her busy schedule to attend and meet our families. Also a big thank you to all our volunteers and sponsors without whom this day could not go ahead and of course thanks to the Taoiseach Brian Cowen who allowed us use of the venue for the day.

To see the full range of photos from Family day or to purchase photos from family day click here

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Brí CD

On April 4th 2008, Síofra Teape died suddenly from a rare disease called Reyes Disease.She was a talented bright and happy little seven year old who lived life to the full and the whole community in Letterkenny was stunned by the tragedy. Brighdín Carr and the Blue Ribbon Youth arts group where Síofra was a diligent member were united in their grief and felt that they had to do something, anything, to help Síofra’s friends and family begin to cope with her loss, and indeed their own loss. Brigidín was then asked to sing at the funeral of another child, one year old Orla, Sinead Trearty’s daughter. In Sinead’s grief Brigidín introduced Sinead to Siofra’s mother Marie and together they planned a special tribute to all their children in Siofra’s name.The CD Brí was born.  The CD has 4 songs
1. Éist
2. Sometimes
3. Starmaker
4. Hope you dance

All proceeds from the sale of the CD go to Jack and Jill.

The CD can be purchased from the Jack and Jill Office for €7

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