JTA launches Mad Mid-May Million charity fundraiser

London, UK; 5 May 2020: JTA today announced its Mad Mid-May Million, which challenges 20 JTA employees to exceed collectively a million steps in a week (from 8-14 May), in order to raise funds for three charities adversely affected by the coronavirus pandemic.

JTA is one of the world’s leading independent, international relations and communications consultancies in sport, and the JTA Mad Mid-May Million team is drawn from JTA’s UK, Swiss, Spanish and US offices. The funds raised from this challenge will mainly go to The Hygiene Bank, Football Beyond Borders and CoppaFeel!. Remaining funds will be donated to two selected charities connected to JTA’s international offices. Each charity was nominated by a JTA team member and continues to carry out vital community work despite a dramatic decline in donations since the coronavirus crisis began.

From Friday 8 May until midnight Thursday 14 May, the 20 JTA team members will each try to complete and exceed an average of 7,260 steps per day (in homage to the 2.6 Challenge). All completed steps will be digitally logged by team members at the end of each day (with supporting evidence from devices), and an updated daily total will be calculated and published. JTA has teamed up with Virgin Money Giving to enable JTA clients, suppliers, contacts and friends to donate.

The total number of steps will be announced on 15 May and the total funds raised to date will be announced the following week.

Commenting on the JTA Mad Mid-May Million, JTA Chairman Jon Tibbs said:

"Like everyone else during this crisis, JTA has been eager to support our healthcare and essential workers. However, as a company, we also wanted to help a number of the community charities that have seen a severe drop in donations. The JTA Mad Mid-May Million is our way of doing this. It is healthy, relevant, fun and much-needed. It is also a collective team effort. Not everyone will be able to reach their 50,000+ steps in a week, which means others will have to up their totals so that together we can exceed a million steps. Séverine Townsend (Managing Director, JTA) and I pledge to do up to 40,000 steps between us on the final day (Thursday 14 May), if needed to get us over the line!

"I hope that the JTA Mad Mid-May Million charity fundraiser will be enjoyed by staff but, more importantly, will make an important contribution to these well-deserving charities."

The logo for the JTA Mad Mid-May Million was designed by Salva Ramirez, Managing Director of JTA Design, based in Spain.

If you would like to support the JTA team before, during or after their challenge, then please visit this Virgin Money Just Giving page to donate: https://bit.ly/3dcGuKv

-ENDS-

For further information, please contact:

Email: nick@jta.sport

Mobile: +44 (0)7557 435851

Web: http://jta.sport/

Twitter: @Team_JTA

Notes to Editors:

The main charities for the JTA Mad Mid-May Million are:

The Hygiene Bank is a grassroots charity and social movement, grounded in community. Its network of hygiene banks exists to ensure that those living in poverty, and who cannot afford to keep themselves clean, have access to the basics.

The lockdown resulting from the coronavirus pandemic has seen many of the charity’s donation drop-off points closed whilst the need for donations is ever expanding as a growing number of people face financial difficulties.

One of the JTA team is a volunteer at The Hygiene Bank and explains: "The money raised will be used to buy the specifically needed items as requested by the charity partners of each area bank. The money that my JTA teammates and I are aiming to raise will make a huge difference to the charity."

Football Beyond Borders (FBB) is an education charity that uses football as an engagement tool to support young people from disadvantaged backgrounds throughout the United Kingdom. FBB is using the power of football to create a more equal and inclusive society in which young people from low income backgrounds have the opportunity to develop the skills, attitude and character to succeed in education, work and public life. At a time when violent crime is on the rise across the country, FBB is helping young people stay on the right path.

However, as schools closed due to the coronavirus pandemic, FBB was forced to stop delivering face-to-face sessions with young people for the first time in six years. As a result, FBB has launched a Virtual School programme to support disengaged pupils digitally during this time.

So, how will the donations help? The Virtual School programme needs an online home: a dedicated portal to host young people’s schedules, projects and study tips and the FBB needs to raise £10,000 to make this happen.

CoppaFeel! is the first breast cancer charity in the UK to focus on creating awareness amongst young people, with the aim of instilling the knowledge and tools they need to get to know their bodies. The charity’s aim is to talk about a serious message in a light-hearted way, empowering young people to start healthy habits for life.

The coronavirus pandemic has meant that the CoppaFeel! team can no longer deliver their awareness-raising message at their usual locations – e.g. schools, universities and festivals. They have therefore had to make huge adjustments to the way they work, with funding needed for innovative ways to carry on their vitally important work. One of these projects is a free breast check reminder service – and that is what the donations are earmarked for.

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