#Jimmy21 Press Release

9 May 2013

Young London Joins Memorial Campaign to Mark
21st Birthday of Jimmy Mizen

21-day festival of fundraising to support Foundation created in memory of schoolboy
Young people across London are today preparing themselves to get involved in a 21-day marathon of fundraising activity to celebrate what would have been the 21st birthday of school boy Jimmy Mizen, tragically murdered in an unprovoked attack in Lee, South-East London in May 2008. And those youngsters already involved along with the Foundation are calling on others to make a stand to create a more peaceful and safe society.

#Jimmy21
Following Jimmy’s Memorial Service at St George’s Cathedral, Southwark on 10th May, the three weeks of action dubbed #Jimmy21, will include a wide variety of sponsored challenges, community initiatives and the occasional crazy stunt, all designed to further the aims of The Foundation that was created by Jimmy’s parents in the wake of his untimely death.

The raft of fundraising events will feature a sponsored spinathon, a family fun day at Eltham Park South including stalls, funfair and fabulous food as well as charity pub nights and a barbecue ‘smoke-a-thon’ at The Jimmy Mizen Foundation’s own Café of Good Hope in Hither Green (that should fulfil the desires of even the biggest carnivore!). The three-week commemoration will culminate in an inspiring 21-mile sponsored walk across 21 London bridges taking in some of the most iconic sites the capital has to offer. Starting in Richmond and snaking through London to the finish line on Tower Bridge, it will involve young people from every borough it passes through and maybe a few famous faces too!
Timetable of Events

All queries should be directed to: fundraising@jimmymizen.org

• Friday 10th May – Memorial Service, St George’s Cathedral, Southwark
• Sunday 12th May – sponsored spinathon at Downham Health and
Leisure Centre, 11.30am
• Friday 17th May – charity night at the Five Bells pub in New Cross,
7.30pm.
• Saturday 18th May – #Jimmy21 Family Fun Day at Eltham Park South,
12noon to 6pm. For stalls please email fundraising@jimmymizen.org
• Sunday 19th May – Margaret’s Book Launch at the Café of Good Hope,
Hither Green Lane, from 2pm
• Thursday 23rd May – #Jimmy21 Live music from local bands at the
Amersham Arms New Cross, from 8pm
• 25-27th May – 21 hour BBQ smoke-a-thon at the Cafe of Good Hope
garden, Hither Green Lane, food from 12 noon, live music, poetry and
comedy all from 2pm
• Thursday 30th May – Charity DJ Night at the North Pole, Greenwich
• Saturday 1st June – 21 Bridges sponsored walk, from Richmond to
Tower Bridge. To register please sign up here http://jimmy21bridges.eventbrite.co.uk

Margaret Mizen, Jimmy’s mother and co-founder of The Foundation comments,
“May 9th 2013 would have been Jimmy’s 21st birthday. Sadly he’ll never receive his ‘key to the door’. However we are working tirelessly to make our communities safer for young people in the hope that this will encourage them to lead more fulfilling lives. We are calling on as many people as possible to get involved in the #Jimmy21 campaign, to show support for the ethos of The Foundation as well as raising much needed funds to allow us to continue our good work. We know that young people have so much positivity, energy and enthusiasm to offer so we want individuals, as well as schools, scout groups and youth clubs to get on board to help us raise lots of money, and have lots of fun in the process”.

- Ends -

Notes to editors
The Jimmy Mizen Foundation
The Jimmy Mizen Foundation was set up as a positive way of remembering the life of Jimmy, who was tragically murdered in May 2008. Its mission is to make young people safer. The Foundation achieves its mission by increasing young people’s awareness of the consequences of violent crime, increasing their participation within the community as well as increasing their skills and capabilities within the work place. Please see below for more details.
The Foundation works with other like-minded people and organisations to be a positive force by empowering young people to develop as individuals and help others, nurturing the ability to manage anger without resorting to violence and developing their skills and capabilities so they can gain work, training and lead fulfilling lives.
Increasing Awareness
Barry and Margaret Mizen have visited schools, prisons and young offenders institutes across the country engaging with well over 5000 young people since Jimmy’s death. Their close working relationship with the nation’s schools started just a few months after Jimmy’s death, when a friend who worked as a school chaplain at St Michael’s Catholic College in Bermondsey, southeast London, asked them to come in and tell their story. Neither had done anything like it before, but both admit that they have since “grown” into their new role.
“We are so fired up to want to do things for Jimmy. We want to do it; we feel like we have something to say,” Barry says. They are determined to get their message across: “A peaceful response will bring about change.”
When they are with pupils, Barry and Margaret first explain what happened to Jimmy and share pictures of their son. They stress the importance of caring for one another. Children respond to the Mizens’ message, often listening in rapt silence. But pupils can and do ask questions. Among the most frequent are how the couple managed to forgive, if they cry much and how their eight other children are coping. Sometimes pupils want to hug the couple, and many come up to them afterwards to try to express their sadness about Jimmy’s death.
After the sessions, teachers often comment that some of the children had initially complained about having to sit through “another” talk on knife crime.
“When they came in for the first time to speak to Year 11, they were phenomenal,” says Grainne Grabowski, head of St Michael’s. “They spoke calmly and quietly, but you could hear a pin drop because the impact of their story was so strong. They had a completely different approach and children were very touched by what they had to say.”
Increasing Participation
Since January 2013 The Jimmy Mizen Foundation has been working in partnership with Youth United to help increase the number of young people joining uniformed youth organisations within London. The Jimmy Mizen Foundation has set itself a target of 500 young people joining with a further 150 new leaders supporting those young people.
Increasing Skill and Capabilities
The Jimmy Mizen Foundation opened The Café of Good Hope in November 2010 with the aim to increase young people’s skills and capabilities within the work place. In the past year 16 young people have taken part in our work experience programme gaining skills within the catering industry. Each has gained a Level 2 Food Hygiene Certificate, Barista training, cake baking as well as customer relationship building. The Café of Good Hope has been able to employ five of those young people part time.
Other achievements include being voted a Netmums Favourite in 2011, A Mayor of Lewisham business award for “excellence within the category of social enterprise” as well as welcoming HRH the Prince of Wales to the Cafe of Good Hope in February 2012.
Like to donate?
Donations to the charity can be made via http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/giving/ Further information on how to get involved in #Jimmy21 can be found on:
Web: Twitter: Facebook: Blog: Email:
Tel no:
www.jimmymizen.org
#jimmy21
http://www.facebook.com/jimmymizenfoundation http://jimmymizenfoundation.wordpress.com fundraising@jimmymizen.org
0208 852 7855
(Contacts Tommy Mizen, Billy Mizen, Nikki Walford, Kerry Nickols)

For more information specifically about The Jimmy Mizen Foundation please contact:
The Jimmy Mizen Foundation 214 Hither Green Lane London, United Kingdom SE13 6RT
0 208 852 7855
nikki.walford@jimmymizen.org