UK/UAE. Duty-Free News International has chosen The Jack & Jill Children’s Foundation as its charity for the 2017 DFNI Fairytale Charity Ball on 7 April.
The charity was nominated by Dubai Duty Free. It provides direct funding for home respite care to families of children with brain damage and end of life care to children up to the age of four.
“I am delighted that the DFNI Charity Ball has selected The Jack & Jill Children’s Foundation as its chosen charity for this year’s charity ball in London,” said Dubai Duty Free Executive Vice Chairman and CEO Colm McLoughlin.
“We have worked with Jonathan Irwin [former CEO of the foundation] and his team for the past three years as they have been our charity partner for the Dubai Duty Free Irish Derby Ball, and will be once again this year with Hugo Jellet stepping in to the CEO role.
“We have great admiration for the work that they do which is to provide nursing care and support for children with severe neurological development issues, as well as offering some respite to the parents and families. The Jack & Jill Children’s Foundation was also one of four charities selected by Rory McIlroy as a recipient of his winnings of the Dubai Duty Free Irish Open, which is admirable of Rory.”
The DFNI Fairytale Charity Ball will take place at the Lancaster London hotel and will feature a gala dinner, charity auctions, games and dancing to help raise funds for the foundation.
‘A pioneer in community care and home support for families’
The Jack & Jill Children’s Foundation CEO Hugo Jellet wrote the following message:
“The Jack & Jill Children’s Foundation was established 20 years ago. It is an Irish charity, one of integrity and repute, and one of the lone voices for the welfare of children with severe disabilities as a result of brain damage. Children who can’t walk or talk (or play football or go to school), who are oxygen-dependent, tube-fed, prone to multiple seizures and in need of around-the-clock care. The charity’s guiding principle is that, underneath all of the disability, the child just wants to be loved and cared for at home, amongst their family – to make the most of life, no matter how short.
“Its blueprint was Jack Irwin’s home care plan, cobbled together in a panic in 1997 by his parents Jonathan and Mary-Ann, as no support was available outside the hospital walls. They wanted to take Jack home, where he belonged, rather than be abandoned in hospital, as advised by the neurologist. He lived at home and died aged 22 months. His parents promised to start a charity and raise enough money to pay for nursing help for every single Irish parent facing this tragic dilemma. Two decades on, that is now the case. Over the years, Jack & Jill has supported over 2,000 children like Jack Irwin. Each one of them with their own story, challenges, home care plan; and their own little life.
“This foundation is unique – there is no waiting list; no bureaucracy; no isolation. If a child needs help, the charity will have money and nursing to them within a day. It is a pioneer in community care and home support for families that need it very, very badly. It provides a gateway to end-of-life care and someone to turn to at that hour of need. Upwards of 900 nurses around Ireland are used by Jack & Jill. The foundation gives the ‘gift of time’ to parents – time for normal things we take for granted, like a full night’s sleep, a shopping trip, or a walk in the park with the healthy siblings. All safe in the knowledge that their sick child is well cared for at home.
“We are able to follow every pound raised, with £13/€16 paying for one hour of nursing care. £10,000, for example, would take care of all our children in County Cork for the month of May. The DFNI Charity Ball is an opportunity to help the most vulnerable children in Ireland, standing shoulder to shoulder with their families and letting them know that they are not alone.”