Kildare-based charity hopes to raise €1 million through Christmas appeal

A charity based in Johnstown hopes to raise €1 million through its latest Christmas appeal.

The Jack and Jill Children’s Foundation hopes to raise €1 million through its Christmas Appeal to support Kildare children with highly complex and life-limiting medical conditions to stay at home, in their community, where they belong.

This Christmas, members of the public can give the gift of time to families cared for by Jack and Jill, with a Christmas donation or gift purchase translating into specialist home nursing care hours for local children and their families.

Launching the charity’s Home for Christmas appeal, CEO Carmel Doyle said: "With more children under our care than ever before, public support is vital in helping us raise €1 million by Christmas to keep our service going – a service that is a lifeline to many of our families.

"We have a big fundraising mountain to climb to keep us going to Christmas, and beyond, and we need people in Kildare to support local Jack and Jill families in their community by signing up as a monthly donor, or by buying something from our Christmas Gift Collection."

Ms Doyle also outlined examples of gifts in the collection: "There’s lots to choose from including stunning candles from Paul and William Costelloe, our ‘Odlums Big Book of Baking’, Incognito Art Prints, signed by our wonderful Incognito artists, Gift of Time cards and exclusively designed Christmas cards from Kildare artist Laura Dempsey aka Pickled Pom Pom.

"By making a donation or purchase people are supporting local families through home nursing care hours that translate into a real gift of time this Christmas."

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A HELPING HAND

For parents Shane and Clare McHugh, who live in Maynooth with their three children, including four-year-old Ben who receives Jack and Jill nursing care, that gift of time is a huge support. Ben’s condition remains undiagnosed, despite extensive tests.

He suffers from epilepsy, autism, sleep, sensory and autonomic disorders, and can’t feed himself, speak or walk.

Shane explained: "Jack and Jill provide us with a blanket of care and security around Ben.

"Knowing that he is in the best hands, enables us as parents to prioritise other things, whether that be quality time with our other children or to get a night's sleep to function through the week. 

He continued: "It can be a very difficult transition to open your home up to others, but when you have a child that has complex medical needs and requires 24/7 care; it is the Jack and Jill service that enables you to have a life as a family, creating memories for all your children that they will hopefully cherish and carry into adulthood.

"This is especially true at milestones throughout the year and none more so than at Christmas - the importance of being together at home as a family, the arrival of Santa, the tree, the presents, the smiles, the laughter, and the creation of new memories together.

"Christmas can be even more poignant for families with children with life-limiting conditions and we are forever mindful of not taking any milestone for granted," he concluded.

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RISE IN NURSING CARE

The nationwide charity, which currently funds and provides vital in-home nursing care and respite support for 30 children in Kildare with severe to profound neurodevelopmental delay up to the age of six, recorded a 16 percent rise in the hours of nursing care it provided to families in 2021 and predicts a further uplift again this year.

The charity, which also provides end-of-life care for all children up to the age of six, irrespective of diagnosis, has supported over 153 families in Kildare since it was founded.

Jack and Jill was set up by parents Jonathan Irwin and Mary Ann O’Brien to help parents keep their child well cared for in the comfort of their own home.

It was established in memory of their son Jack Irwin who passed away at home at the age of 22 months on December 13, 1996. 

This  service has no means test, no waiting list, and no unnecessary paperwork and red tape. 

The charity is hugely dependant on public donations to fund Jack and Jill’s in-home nursing care and respite for children up to the age of 6 with severe to profound neurodevelopmental delay, including children with brain injury, genetic diagnosis, cerebral palsy and undiagnosed conditions.

Another key part of Jack and Jill’s service is end-of-life care for children under the age of 6, regardless of the diagnosis.   

The Jack and Jill Home for Christmas Gift Collection can be accessed here.