Three Northampton women establish regular pop-up fundraisers to support local charities

Three Northampton businesswomen have teamed up to fundraise and support local charities in any way they can.

Friends Julia Harris, Ann Brebner and Mandy Lagden came together just before the first national lockdown in 2020 to run a SOS Charity Fashion Show in aid of local charity, The Lewis Foundation. It was held in the Hawthornes Retirement Village in Upton.

Julia said: "We asked eight Northampton business women to model some of the clothes, created a runway, asked Lincoln Noel to add some magic with his piano playing and local businesses to donate to a raffle. We raised £1,000 for TLF and loved every minute of it."

From there, the three friends formed 'J.A.M' - comprised of the first letters of each of their names - for the purpose of "popping up" every now and again to give time to local charities, whether it is a fundraiser or rolling up their sleeves to get something done.

When the businesswomen are not volunteering their services, Julia runs a small marketing business, Ann is a marketing director of a commercial cleaning service and Mandy is a business owner.

On managing their workload, Julia said: "It’s a bit of a juggling act sometimes but we’re good at that. Mandy and I both have dogs so we chat and plan on dog walks, meet up in local cafes, set up Zoom calls and have lots of random WhatsApp calls at all sorts of weird and wonderful times."

The group depends on the support of local businesses and they work to spread awareness of charities and their supporters.

J.A.M's most recent fundraiser took place on Saturday, March 12 at Northampton Active, where they raised over £1,300 for local domestic violence survivor support charity, EVE.

Julia continued: "It's not always about raising money. When we ran an online auction to raise funds for Northamptonshire Rape Crisis, Dawn Thomas told us that it's about raising awareness of the charity as much as money. So we talk on social media as much as we can about the charity and all that is going on."

J.A.M has worked on the Northampton Hope Centre allotment and, with the help of AJ's Country Kitchen, supplied and helped to deliver food to the homeless with charity SCCYC.

The group will also be meeting with local businesswoman, Grace Allitt, who wants their help and support in raising awareness of her London Marathon challenge to raise money for the Cynthia Spencer Hospice.

Julia added: "We can’t do what we do without help from lots of lovely businesses and individuals. Local businesses can sponsor our event, donate towards a raffle, spread the word of an event, offer us a venue, collaborate with us on an idea, so many ways. Just make contact and let's chat over a cuppa – and cake, we like cake."

To find out more visit J.A.M's Facebook page or call 07887 535112.