Cannonball Ireland has raised €308,000 for the Jack and Jill Children’s Foundation throughout 2024, bringing the total funds raised for Irish children's charities by the event to nearly €1.95 million. The action-packed supercar road trip, featuring 200 high-performance vehicles, toured Ireland from 6-8 September 2024, attracting over 250,000 spectators who enjoyed the cars, live entertainment and family-friendly atmosphere.
Cannonball founder, Alan Bannon, expressed his gratitude saying: “The figure of €308,000 raised this year for Jack and Jill is very welcome news indeed for all who took part in Cannonball. My sincere thanks to all our sponsors, partners, participants, spectators and crew that make up our Cannonball family.”
Supporting the Jack and Jill Children’s Foundation
The Jack and Jill Children’s Foundation, which provides in-home nursing care and respite for children with severe disabilities, was the official charity of Cannonball 2024. The funds raised will help provide 16,998 hours of nursing care for 421 families across Ireland.
In addition to the event donations, Circle K Ireland ran a nationwide fundraising campaign, contributing €100,000 through fuel sales. Other significant contributions came from Apache Pizza with €25,000, Autoclass with €14,000 and podcaster Alan Clarke, who raised €13,000 in just 24 hours.
Ciara Foxton, Managing Director of Circle K Ireland, remarked: “We were delighted to bring ‘When You Fill, Support Jack and Jill’ back to sites nationwide last month, after last year’s hugely successful campaign. Partnering with such a popular event like Cannonball generated strong awareness for this year’s initiative, supporting us with raising critical funds for Jack and Jill, a fantastic organisation that makes a big difference to many families in communities nationwide. I would sincerely like to thank Cannonball, colleagues and our customers for supporting the initiative again this year.”
A successful effort
Deirdre Walsh, CEO of the Jack and Jill Children’s Foundation, remarked on such a successful event, saying: “We are blown away by the funds raised this year through our partnership with Cannonball and Circle K, which translates to 16,998 hours of in-home nursing and respite care for 421 families currently supported by Jack and Jill in communities across the country. Great to see the Cannonball community get behind the fundraising effort, including the teams at Apache Pizza who raised €25k, Autoclass who raised €14k and our MC, Podcaster Alan Clarke whose donation drive raised €13k in 24hours! It was fantastic to meet so many of our families along the route, who came out to enjoy the spectacle, and we hugely appreciate all the time, effort, creativity and energy from the Cannonball community that ensured Cannonball 2024 was such a resounding success.”