Rory McIlroy and his charitable foundation, the Rory Foundation, have announced three children’s charities who will benefit from this year’s Dubai Duty Free Irish Open. The three charities are Barretstown, the Jack & Jill Foundation and LauraLynn Children’s Hospice.
“I am delighted my Foundation is again hosting this year’s Dubai Duty Free Irish Open. This is a great platform to showcase what we do for children’s charities. I’m honoured to support three very worthy charities all based close to The K Club. To give a little something back is very important to me, especially when I can offer support to help children and their families. I can’t wait to get back to Ireland and raise as much money as possible for Barretstown, the Jack & Jill Foundation and LauraLynn Children’s Hospice.” said McIlroy.
The money raised by the Rory Foundation will be divided between Barretstown, the Jack & Jill Foundation and LauraLynn Children’s Hospice to help support specific projects identified by the charities. Barry Funston, Chief Executive of the Rory Foundation said,
“We will raise money for the charities selected by Rory’s Foundation in a number of innovative ways. A percentage of all ticket sales for this year’s Dubai Duty Free Irish Open will go to the Foundation and I would encourage golf fans throughout the Island to buy their tickets soon. In addition we are hosting an evening with Rory in the Convention Centre Dublin on Tuesday 17th May with proceeds going to the Foundation.”
CEO of LauraLynn, Sharon Morrow said:
“I am extremely pleased and gratified that LauraLynn has been selected as one of the beneficiaries of the Rory Foundation, and its fund-raising events around the Irish Open at The K Club in May. It will help us to raise awareness of LauraLynn and the services we provide to children with life-limiting conditions, and their families. It will also provide much-needed funds. I want to pay tribute to Rory McIlroy, and his team at the Rory Foundation, for the wonderful work they are doing for really worthy causes, and for selecting us along with two other great children’s charities. It is a major endorsement of all the work of everyone at LauraLynn”.
2015 Irish Open winner Soren Kjeldsen alongside Rory McIlroy. Mandatory Credit ©INPHO/Presseye/Andrew Paton
CEO of Barretstown, Dee Ahearn said,
“We are thrilled to have been chosen by the Rory Foundation to benefit from the Irish Open this year. This support will enable us to provide our life changing programmes to more than 5,000 children and family members affected by serious illness in 2016, as well as to expand our hospital outreach services in Ireland, north and south. The Rory Foundation already supports Daisy Lodge in Co Down, whose work is well known to us and whose mission in helping children affected by serious illness is similar to our own.”
Jonathan Irwin CEO and Founder of the Jack & Jill Children’s Foundation said,
“On behalf of the 300 children with severe disabilities across the country, whose families receive home nursing care hours from Jack & Jill, I want to say a huge thank you to the Rory Foundation. To be one of the three chosen charities for the Irish Open is such a great honour and every €16 raised for Jack & Jill will fund one hour of home nursing care for a sick child, in a partnership that is as important for awareness raising as it is for fundraising. The journey of caring for a sick child is a challenging one, I know that, with parents and siblings often feeling isolated and overwhelmed just trying to get through the day. Knowing that the highly prestigious Irish Open in The K Club in May, and the whole team from the golfers to the spectators and the organisers, are behind us, well that really extends a hand of friendship to our families. We can’t thank you enough for supporting Jack & Jill and for reaching out to our families and reminding all of us that we never walk alone.”
The Dubai Duty Free Irish Open, hosted by the Rory Foundation, will be held at The K Club from the 19th to the 22nd of May. Denmark's Soren Kjeldsen is the defending champion after defeating Eddie Pepperell and Bernd Wiesberger in a play-off at Royal County Down last May.
Newstalk will be broadcasting from the event for the duration of the tournament with live updates on Off the Ball throughout the weekend as the tournament comes to a conclusion.
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