As part of the Community Sports Foundation's takeover fixture this weekend against Birmingham City, we are shining a light on one of their fundraisers, Jacob Bowles.
The winner of the Commitment Award at the inaugural Community Sports Foundation awards night recently held at The Nest, Jacob and his parents, Andy and Sharon, run On the Stall City.
Readers may be familiar with the shop from its time located in Norwich market while late 2023 saw a relocation to The Forum.
Now seven years in operation, On the Stall City has progressed to become much more than a retail space.
In addition to their usual business, they have also been able to open a pop-up stall for the club’s ‘Green Weekend’ fixture, ran a fundraiser for the Ipswich Food Bank, organised a first ‘Collectors Fair’ and sponsored their second annual Disability Football Festival at The Nest.
In that time, donations to the Foundation have been north of £40,000, an impressive sum.
For supporters who are unfamiliar with On the Stall City, it was originally set up on the back of medical advice.
Fundraising for the Foundation was a way of repaying their support for Jacob, who is autistic, a Type 1 diabetic and suffers from anxiety.
Jacob has been a participant in Foundation programmes for over 10 years and has benefited enormously.
When advised that an activity could be a useful ‘distraction’ from anxiety, the idea of On the Stall City was born, initially as a pop-up stall.
The first pop-up was in February 2019 and the support from City fans was astounding. The first week saw over £1000 raised for the Foundation and only fuelled the motivation to continue giving back.
As time went on, the Bowles’ realised that they would need more space to operate and when a unit in The Forum was discovered, it proved to be perfect and the move was made in December 2023.
Speaking to OTBC, Andy said: “Our move to The Forum gives us the opportunity to do more than just retail.
“We offer work experience for differently-abled people and now have started to run events for fans, shirt collectors and Norwich City fan groups. We ran two successful events in our first year and are planning more for 2025.”
“We are delighted that we are able to support the Foundation and The Forum. The Foundation provided Jacob with fantastic support when he needed it most and so we are happy to continue to donate our profits to them so that they can help others.
“However, the overriding reason for On the Stall City is to help Jacob develop his social skills and to provide him with a safe work environment.
“About 30 per cent of adults with autism are not in paid employment and we hope, in our own small way, that we can raise public awareness of the need to support people like Jacob.”
Of course, Jacob's work with the Foundation does not go unnoticed, as shown by his recent award.
Emma Fletcher-Dungay, the Foundation's head of fundraising, said: "Jacob Bowles is an incredible young man, he's a massive Norwich City fan and breathes yellow and green.
"Jacob's journey began with the Foundation in 2011, he found a safe place within the Foundation and with the staff there. In turn, Jacob also wanted to support the Foundation.
"Commitment is something that Jacob and the Bowles family do week in, week out. It's been going back to 2019. Their heart is about raising money for the Foundation but it's also about engaging Norwich City fans."
To learn more, visit their website.
