Roscommon's Joe (9) helping Children’s Health Foundation ‘Save a Smile’ this Christmas
For Joe Kenny fundraising is becoming part of what he does and how he sees the world.
This Christmas, Children’s Health Foundation has launched ‘Save a Smile’ – an emotional reminder that this Christmas, some children won’t wake up at home, they’ll wake up in hospital. But with the support and generosity of supporters across the country, like Joe Kenny (9) from Roscommon, they won’t miss out on the magic.
Joe Kenny’s garden, for a few weeks each summer, becomes a small field. He grows rows of sunflowers standing in pots and tubs and it’s a project rooted in something personal: Joe’s younger brother Owen, who is eight and has Noonan syndrome, a genetic condition that can affect growth, heart function and learning and the money raised from the sunflower sales goes to the Children’s Health Foundation. By the end of this year’s sale, nine-year-old Joe had raised more than €3,000 for Children’s Health Foundation.
Watching Owen attend hospital appointments over the years has shaped his wish to help. Nine-year-old Joe lives in Creevy, just outside Roscommon Town, with his parents Lorraine and Eugene, Owen and his sister Mary. He is the one who first suggested growing sunflowers for charity. Lorraine remembers that moment. They were in the greenhouse planting vegetable seeds when he announced that he would like to grow sunflowers to raise money. It did not feel out of character. “Joe has always had an interest in charities and charity work,” she says.
The idea became a family project. His younger siblings were keen to help. Owen and Mary (5) enjoyed filling pots, planting the seeds and making sure everything was watered.
Joe, who loves to chat and be outside, took on the busy work of selling the plants and counting up what they had made. One of the biggest challenges, Lorraine jokes, was simply keeping more than 300 sunflowers alive long enough to make it to the sale.
“He loves the feeling of helping others,” Lorraine says. “He loves the buzz on the morning of the sale and people calling.” This year’s coffee morning and plant raised more than €3,000. “It just felt amazing,” Joe says. “I got a feeling inside that so many children were going to get proper medication. I just felt happy for them.”
The family’s connection to Crumlin runs deep. Over the years they have spent a great deal of time in Children’s Health Ireland at Crumlin with Owen, attending neurology, cardiology, ENT and other clinics. When he was younger, there were stretches where Lorraine and Eugene were in Dublin several times a week. As he has grown older, the appointments have spread out, but they still travel to Crumlin at least two or three times a year.
Those visits have left a mark on all of them. Lorraine describes Owen as friendly, chatty and very sporty. He loves colouring, inclusive rugby and playing handball in school. Mary, who is five, is “very girly” and, as Lorraine says with a smile, often tries to keep her two brothers in line. All three children have grown up with hospitals and clinic visits in the background, and Joe has watched firsthand what it means for Owen to need extra care.
Lorraine says the staff in Crumlin have been “brilliant” from the start. “They’re just so understanding and they make it easy,” she explains. “They bend for the children.” She and Eugene have also seen the difference that charities and supporters make when a family is far from home. “Having spent a lot of time in hospitals, Eugene and I have seen firsthand the comfort that charities provide to families,” she says.
When Joe isn’t tending to sunflowers or planning his next fundraiser, he is usually reading or playing music. His favourite books at the moment are the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series by Jeff Kinney. He plays the concertina, the tin whistle and the melodeon, a one-row accordion. He started the whistle three years ago, took up the concertina last November and has already added the melodeon to the mix. Of all three, the concertina is the one he loves most. “It’s so easy to play and it’s just a lovely instrument,” he says. “I love the sound out of it.”
Music runs into other parts of his life too. At Christmas, he joins the local Roscommon Comhaltas, who go out hunting the wren. They visit bars in the area, playing tunes and singing songs while someone carries a bucket for donations. The money they collect goes to charity. For Joe, fundraising is becoming part of what he does and how he sees the world. When asked what he would say to other children who might want to help someone, his advice is simple.
“I would just say go for it,” he says, “and after, you should feel a bit better.” As Christmas approaches and Children’s Health Foundation has launched its ‘Save a Smile’ campaign, that experience shapes how Lorraine thinks about giving back. “Until you hit a bump in the road, only then can you fully experience the amazing work that these charities do,” she says.
*Help Children’s Health Foundation ‘Save a Smile’ this Christmas, Support the appeal at childrenshealth.ie or text SAVEASMILE to 50300 to donate €4.
