I volunteer because helping is priceless
Jack and Jill volunteer Ann O’Sullivan in the shop at Kealew Business Retail Park in Portlaoise. Picture: Alf Harvey.
Ann O'Sullivan has volunteered in the Jack & Jill shop, Portlaoise, for almost six years, but the 73-year-old knew nothing about the charity until her granddaughter, Zoe, was born.
“Zoe had very special needs. We knew ahead she had problems — we didn’t expect them to be as bad as they were. They knew she wasn’t going to live very long — she passed away at 11 weeks. Her twin, Lucy, was 10 in May,” says O’Sullivan, who first heard about Jack & Jill Children’s Foundation in Crumlin Hospital.
Founded by Jonathan Irwin and Mary Ann O’Brien in 1997 — based on their experience of caring for their son Jack — the nationwide charity funds and provides up to 100 hours per month of in-home nursing care and respite support to families caring for children, up to age seven, with severe learning disabilities often associated with complex medical needs.
Typically, these children may be tube-fed, oxygen-dependent, may not sleep, have seizures, need lots of medication, and require round-the-clock care. Understandably, parents can be exhausted and need a break, which is where Jack & Jill comes in.
“It’s only when you’re in the position of having a child with profound special needs that you realise how all-consuming it is,” says O’Sullivan. “And what little help there is for parents when they bring their child home. If, for example, you’re peg-feeding the child, there’s that fear food will go down the wrong way.
“To have a Jack & Jill nurse come in to help, who you can talk to and ask questions, is so important.”
Seeing Jack & Jill’s work, O’Sullivan decided: “If I ever volunteer, I’ll volunteer for Jack & Jill.”
The grandmother of four, who does Zumba twice a week and who describes herself as a “people person”, worked in the visitor centre of the Midlands Prison for 16 years. “I loved it. My job was to welcome the families, to sit them down and talk to them while they were waiting for their visit. Sometimes, it was a long wait. You built up relationships with people who were coming for years.”
Describing “different types of visitors”, she says: “There were those who thought nothing about coming to a prison and were well used to it. But for others — whose children were involved in drugs — it was totally alien. I met architects, teachers who were in shock at finding themselves in a prison.”
She recalls a mum and dad saying they had only come to tell their son how angry they were. “They said, ‘After this, we’ll never come again’. I said, ‘You will, you know. Once you go in and talk to him, you will come back’. And they did.”
A woman who likes to keep busy — “I had to retire from the job, unfortunately” — she’s a great reader and a book club member, and often visited the Jack & Jill shop to browse the books. Seeing a ‘volunteers needed’ sign up one day, she went in, said she’d like to volunteer, and filled out the application form.
“They needed volunteers urgently at the time — the manager said, ‘Could you start tomorrow?’ I said, ‘Yes, I can’.
Between staff and volunteers, 29 people work in the shop. O’Sullivan volunteers four hours a day, three mornings a week. “We get hundreds of donations — the whole crew sorts through the bags.”
She loves the customers and their many, varied stories, from the mums who come in and say ‘this is a Jack & Jill baby’ — the baby has recovered and is doing well — to those who come to share their struggles.
“People get to know us. A lovely lady came to say she’d been diagnosed with cancer. I had breast cancer myself. I’m through all treatment now — that’s 10 years ago.
“And there’s a man who can’t read, who gets us to read his letters for him.
“A lot of people ask what Jack & Jill does, and we explain. Some look for money off items. We say ‘No! This is for a nurse.’ And then, a longtime customer came in one day and said, ‘There’s a great atmosphere in this shop, I’d love to volunteer here’. And now she’s one of our volunteers.”
O’Sullivan’s sister also volunteers in the shop. “She lost her son to cancer six years ago. I persuaded her to come for a day and try volunteering with me. She loved it,” she says, adding that her granddaughter — as well as those of two other volunteers — modelled the First Communion dresses for the shop.
Married to Brendan, O’Sullivan volunteers because she feels she’s doing something good. “I actually love that it’s voluntary, that I’m not getting paid. I’m under no pressure. If I can’t come in a day, I can’t. Most of us volunteers are retired —we all get on great.”
- Jack & Jill’s service operates seven days a week, with no means test, no red tape, no waiting list. It also provides end-of-life care for all children up to age seven, irrespective of diagnosis, empowering parents to take their child home to die.
- The charity currently supports over 500 families in communities across Ireland. It must raise over €8.72m in 2026 to keep its service going, with approximately 20% coming from the HSE.
- See: jackandjill.ie
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