The annual fundraising campaign from homelessness charity StreetSmart is back for another year, taking place throughout November and December and placing special emphasis on tackling youth homelessness and food poverty.
Every year, StreetSmart runs a campaign which raises money for homeless people by adding £1 per table to diner’s bills at participating London and UK restaurants. Since its conception in 1998, the StreetSmart campaign has raised £9.5 million, one hundred percent of which goes towards grass roots projects tackling homelessness, an increasingly relevant issue across the country.
The campaign began two decades ago with a handful of supporters in Soho, but has now grown to include over 600 participating restaurants across the UK, which share 38 Michelin stars between them. Restaurants who have previously participated that will continue to pledge their support include Barrafina, The River Café, and Core by Clare Smyth, while new signups for 2019 include Flor in Borough Market and Scully in St James’.
This year, StreetSmart have teamed up with property industry charity LandAid to help deliver their 2019 programme, with a joint mission to end youth homelessness in the UK. LandAid’s contribution to StreetSmart allows the charity to continue achieving real change and enables 100% of StreetSmart’s donations to be passed directly onto projects that they support. These endeavours include the likes of The Felix Project, which collects surplus food from suppliers and delivers it free of charge to charities across London that provide food to some of the most vulnerable people in society.
Scully is one of the new restaurants joinging the 2019 campaign
The importance of charities like StreetSmart is becoming more obvious by the day, with troubling new figures suggesting that the number of rough sleepers in London has surged to a record high. Data collated by CHAIN (Combined Homelessness and Information Network) shows that someone becomes homeless in the UK 22 times a day.
If you want to get involved with StreetSmart’s 2019 campaign, simply visit one of the participating restaurants and pay the additional £1 that is added to your total bill. For a full list of participating restaurants, homeless projects funded and partners supporting the campaign, visit the StreetSmart website.