Grandmother Ann (73) loves volunteering at Portlaoise charity shop
Jack & Jill volunteer Ann O'Sullivan pictured at the charity's boutique in Portlaoise. Photo: Alf Harvey
ANN O'Sullivan (73) has volunteered at the Jack & Jill shop in Portlaoise for almost six years but she knew nothing about the charity until her granddaughter, Zoe, was born.
She recalls: “Zoe had very special needs. We knew ahead that she had problems but we didn’t expect them to be as bad as they were. They knew she wasn’t going to live very long and she passed away at 11 weeks. Her twin, Lucy, was 10 in May.”
Ann first heard about the Jack & Jill Children’s Foundation when the family was in Crumlin Children’s Hospital.
She says: “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 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, whom you can talk to and ask questions, is so important.”
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.
Seeing the charity’s work in Crumlin, Ann 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”, previously worked in the visitor centre at the Midlands Prison for 16 years.
“I loved it,” she says. “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 come only to tell their son how angry they were and would never come again. She told them, ‘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 one day, she went in, said she’d like to volunteer and filled out the application form.
They needed volunteers urgently at the time, so Ann agreed when the manager asked if she could start “tomorrow” at the shop in Kea-Lew Business and Retail Park at Clonminam, on the Mountrath Road.
Between staff and volunteers, 29 people work in the shop. Ann volunteers four hours a day, three mornings a week. They get hundreds of donations and “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, says Ann. “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.
“I love shop work, every bit of it. I don’t mind what I do. It’s a big shop, very busy. We sell everything, debs’ dresses, wedding dresses, all sorts of clothes, furniture, bric-a-brac.
“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.’ 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.”
Ann’s sister, who lost her son to cancer six years ago, also volunteers in the shop, since Ann persuaded her to come in for a day and she loved it. Ann’s granddaughter and those of two other volunteers also modelled First Holy Communion dresses for the shop.
Married to Brendan, Ann volunteers because she feels she’s doing something good. She explains: “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 and we all get on great.”
Jack & Jill’s service operates seven days a week, with no means test, no red tape and no waiting list. It also provides end-of-life care for all children up to age seven, irrespective of diagnosis, helping 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 percent coming from the HSE.
A spokesperson for the charity said: “We couldn't be more grateful to have volunteers like Ann at the heart of Jack and Jill.”
