Teens raise thousands for sick kids with ‘then and now’ tweets

Friends from north London have raised £8,000 for Great Ormond Street Hospital after one of their mums suggested posting old photos online and ‘twittering’ celebrities about it.

University students Tamara Fisch, from Hendon, and Emily Flitterman, from Mill Hill, have been dragged away from their studies after Tamara’s mother, 53-year-old Debbie Frenkel, leafed through the family album and wondered if they could be used to raise money for charity.

“We were laughing at the old photos, I don’t know how they let me out like that!” says Tamara. “Then mum suggested we post them online for charity. She’d read that the #nomakeupselfie trend raising £8million and wanted to do the same.”

Tamara laughed it off but Debbie persisted, calling Great Ormond Street and raising the idea locally. “She’s not on Facebook or social media, she doesn’t have a clue how it works,” explained Tamara this week.

“She didn’t know what a hashtag was and just kept urging me to ‘twitter’ the celebrities.” When she realised her mum wouldn’t be dissuaded, Birmingham student Tamara recruited her friend Emily, who is studying at Bristol, and Emily’s sister Izzy, a pupil at JFS. Together they set about getting endorsements.

“We raised £800 on the first day when we launched on 20 April – 10 days later it was 10 times that amount,” said Tamara. Among those lending their support to the campaign have been comedian Matt Lucas, actor Tom Felton, Tom Fletcher from McFly and blogger Marcus Butler.

Tamara added: “We’ve been overwhelmed by the support,” she says. “We’re aiming to raise as much as we can.”