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Jas Uppal raised money for the Social Interest Group earlier this year. Jas trained for the Hampton Court Half Marathon as part of her fundraising efforts.

She found us on Just Giving after typing in keywords to help women who have been victims of domestic abuse. After sifting through many organisations, she decided to run for SIG. Our Instagram page inspired her to raise funds for Bridge House, one of our residential support for homeless families in the Luton area, focusing on expectant mothers.

Jas is a 25-year-old Sikh woman from Northampton and a Psychology Facilitator in the Prison Service. Jas studied psychology at Manchester University and has worked for the Prison Service for three years. In her role, she helps rehabilitate offenders and hopes to become a Forensic Psychologist.

Jas was not usually active, although she often had bouts of sporting activity. However, this is the first time she has consistently trained to meet a goal. She is someone who needs a challenge or something stimulating to push herself physically and mentally through sport or some training, but before this had never taken part in a race. 

When she moved to London during the lockdown, she needed something to motivate her and fulfil her. Her new colleagues were very active and regularly took part in park runs, so she started by joining them for 5k each week. She was determined to run twice a week and was held accountable at work by signing up for an app for runners called Strava. Her initial goal was to run a 10k by Christmas, which she achieved in October. She increased the distance and set a goal of running a half-marathon. That’s when she decided to run the Hampton Court half marathon and raise money for charity.

Jas knew she wanted to raise money for a smaller charity and one that meant a lot to her. She tried to find a charity focused on helping women who have faced some life difficulties. As a single mother, her mother faced hardship in her life. Witnessing this first-hand helped Jas appreciate a woman’s strength and how raising children alone is not easy. When she saw Bridge House’s work, she felt motivated to support other women!

Jas trained for over 12 weeks and told us that she tried to follow her training plan consistently despite the cold weather. It wasn’t easy, and her motivation dipped during the Christmas period. But in the New Year, she bought new winter running gear and started running home from work. She injured her ankle at that point. Unfortunately, she had another break in the training. Still, she pushed the mileage in the last two weeks coming up to the marathon so that she could rest right before the run.

Everyone at Bridge House is thankful to Jas, and the mothers and babies made her a banner of support and encouragement. They said:”

Jas did indeed complete the race in the estimated time of 2 hours and 16 minutes. We congratulate her for her efforts and thank her for raising funds for Bridge House. We also thank all those who have contributed to Jas’ fundraising so far. Her JustGiving page is still open for donations.

If you want to raise money for any of our services, please get in touch with our Fundraising Team by emailing fundraising@socialinterestgroup.org.uk