By Melissa Blewitt

For more than three decades, Jack Cannons AM has been a familiar face on the road with Variety, helping raise funds for children across NSW.
The 2026 Backyard Bash stopped for lunch in Condobolin recently, prior to heading off to Griffith.
The six-day Backyard Bash took participants through regional NSW from 9 August 14 August, bringing together motorists, regional communities and a common purpose – raising money to help children who are sick, experiencing disadvantage or living with disability.
It is a new chapter in Variety’s long-running story.
They describe it as a one-year-only regional NSW event, created to keep the spirit of the Bash moving while giving participants a fresh route and a new way to experience the state. The event’s fundraising target was $500,000.
Jack has been part of the Variety Bash community since 1990, a remarkable association spanning more than three decades. Today, he remains a director of Variety NSW/ACT and one of the charity’s best-known and longest-serving volunteers.
His involvement with Variety has extended well beyond the Bash.
Jack has served in senior roles at state, national and international levels, including chairman of Variety Australia and CEO of Variety International. He was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia in 2006 in recognition of his contribution to the community.
For the communities along the route, the arrival of the colourful convoy is more than a spectacle.
The Variety Bash has long been about making a direct connection between city-based fundraising and the people who live in regional Australia.
Variety describes its motoring events as adventures with a social purpose, with participants raising money that helps provide medical care, mobility, education and support for children across NSW.
Each Bash brings participants into towns that might otherwise see little of the attention generated by major fundraising events.
Local businesses benefit from the influx of visitors, while communities get the chance to meet the people behind the fundraising effort.
The Variety Bash is not simply about putting kilometres under the tyres.
For Jack, the appeal of the Variety Bash has always been about more than the cars and the camaraderie.
It is about getting into regional communities and helping ensure country children have access to opportunities and support that can sometimes be difficult to reach.
After more than 30 years, Jack continues to get behind the wheel for the same reason he started – for the kids.