Katie calls on Kilkenny people to 'power' forward to support local families

Kilkenny senior camogie player, Katie Power, is lending her support to the ‘Up the Hill for Jack and Jill’ initiative, in association with global healthcare company, Abbott.

The ninth annual fundraising event, in aid of the Jack and Jill Children’s Foundation, urges people to take to the hills throughout the summer in support of local Jack and Jill families. 

Every €18 registration fee will help fund one hour of in-home nursing care and end-of-life support for 11 Kilkenny children with highly complex, life-limiting medical conditions up to six years of age.

A total of 65 families have been supported by Jack and Jill in Kilkenny since the charity’s foundation in 1997.

Power, a Piltown clubwoman and All-Ireland winner with the Cats, is urging people to become charitable ‘All-Stars’ for a great local cause and go ‘Up the Hill for Jack and Jill’.

Climb a local mountain or choose a location that suits your fitness and ability and invite your family, friends, neighbours or colleagues to join the fun. 

Power is encouraging people to lend a hand to this worthwhile charity.

“Jack and Jill is a gift of time for so many families who face very tough challenges in their home life. These families have a massive amount of resilience, but they need, and deserve, a break to enable them to recharge and face the next challenge”, Power commented.

CEO of the foundation, Carmel Doyle said: “As with the GAA, Jack and Jill is all about community. We know there is no care like home care for a Jack and Jill child, and we want to do everything that we can to support parents in caring for their child at home in their communities, where they belong.

I hope people will come together for our extra-special Jack and Jill children to show them how much they care and to help make parents feel a little less isolated and alone in raising a child with highly complex medical needs”, she concluded.

Organisers are hoping to raise over €75,000, which is the equivalent to 4,167 hours of in-home nursing care and respite support, a much needed lifeline for over 400 families currently availing of the service across the country.