This week we caught up with Emily Flitterman, one of the driving forces behind the lastest selfie trend to sweep the internet #thenandnow. A campaign to raise money for Great Ormond Street Hospital, #thenandnow is seeing people all over social media posting photos from their childhood. We’ve got to say, Matt Lucas was too cute as a child!
– Hey Emily! Could you tell us a bit about yourself?
I’m a 2nd year studying Spanish and originally from London.
(Emily, top, and Tamara, bottom, with their then and now pics)
– Could you explain the campaign for us?
It’s an internet campaign called #thenandnow to raise money for Great Ormond Street, with the same concept as the ‘no make up selfie’. It involves uploading a photo of yourself from childhood to any social media (Facebook/Twitter/Instagram) and donating as little as £2 and then nominating your friends to do the same.
– How did you get involved with the campaign/what inspired you to start the campaign?
My friend Tamara’s mum came up with the idea and we initially all laughed and never thought it would take off. Tamara and I thought we would try starting it up on Facebook and the response was incredible. In the first 2 days alone we made over £2000 and in the first week we made £7000. Our inspiration for the campaign was helping children at Great Ormond Street to have a ‘then’ and ‘now’ with a bright future.
– What has been your goal for the campaign, and do you have a fundraising target/have you achieved this target?
We don’t have a specific target but would love to reach £15,000!
– Do you think it’s important for students to get involved with charity, and have you found Bristol students are keen to get involved?
All my Bristol friends have been really supportive and have helped to spread the word to all their other friends. It’s so easy to forget to be charitable during university life as we are very conscious of what we spend our money on, but this is such a simple idea that I really hope it will appeal to students.
– What is your next move for the campaign and is this something you would like to take further after university?
We recently got celebrities on board like Matt Lucas, Tom from Mcfly, and Tom Felton so we would hope for this to continue and hopefully make loads more money for an incredibly worthwhile cause. I have thoroughly enjoyed being part of this campaign and I will definitely continue with this kind of charity work.
– Finally, how do we get involved?
Don’t wait to be nominated!! So post your picture on Facebook from childhood and text THEN77 us the amount (£2-£10) to 70070 and then nominate all your friends to do the same!
Photo Credit: Emily’s own