Cannonball, the action-packed supercar spectacle, raised €308,000 for The Jack and Jill Children’s Foundation throughout 2024. This brings the total figure raised for Irish children’s charities to €1,946,432.
Cannonball, fuelled by milesPLUS from Circle K, is the largest organised road trip in Europe featuring the finest cars on the planet, from the awe-inspiring power of Ferrari, Lamborghini and McLaren to the grace and elegance of Porsche, Aston Martin, and Maserati.
Cannonball blazed a trail around the country from September 6th to 8th this year to the delight of over 250,000 spectators who gathered in their thousands all over the country to witness the world’s most prestigious and sought-after supercars up close. Families also enjoyed the music and fanfare, giant screens, live DJs, bands and festivals in host towns and a unique free family day out.
Two hundred magnificent supercars, helicopters, celebrities and very colourful Cannonballers in costume converged on a sunny weekend for another adrenalin-fuelled supercar spectacle. But at the heart of this event is philanthropy and raising much-needed funds for worthy causes
“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 very sincere thanks to all of our sponsors, partners, participants, spectators, and crew who make up our Cannonball family,” said Alan Bannon, founder of Cannonball.
The official charity for Cannonball 2024 was The Jack and Jill Children’s Foundation, an Irish children’s charity that funds and provides up to 100 hours per month of in-home nursing care, respite support, and end-of-life care for children from birth to six years of age with severe learning disabilities often associated with complex medical needs.
Deirdre Walsh, CEO of Jack and Jill, said, “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.
“It was 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 24 hours!
“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.”
This year, in addition to all of the fundraising activities on Cannonball throughout the weekend, including the exciting new ‘Cannonball Fundraising Grand Prix’, Cannonball’s fuel sponsor, Circle K Ireland ran a nationwide campaign entitled, ‘When you fill, support Jack and Jill’, where throughout the weekend of the event, 1 cent from every litre of miles and milesPLUS fuel sold at Circle K was donated to the Jack and Jill Children’s Foundation.
It became the year’s biggest fundraising initiative for Cannonball and Circle K, raising €100,000 in critical funds for the Jack and Jill Children’s Foundation—the equivalent of 5,555 hours of nursing care for families.
Ciara Foxton, Managing Director of Circle K Ireland, commented, “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, helping us raise 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.”
Cannonball was founded by Kildare businessman Alan Bannon and the benefit to the host towns for this event is estimated at €2,567,000 per year. Cannonball was fuelled by milesPLUS from Circle K as the main headline Sponsor for 2024.
This year’s Tour Sponsor was Apache Pizza, and Cannonball’s official partners included Monster Energy, Jade Insurance, Karl Goodwin Motors, Combilift, Capital Switchgear, Balmaha Limited Food Investments, AB Signs, and Majestic Ireland Road Trips. See Cannonball.ie for all details.