Cafés and restaurants can now sign up for DineSmart 2018, a campaign that sees venues ask diners to leave a small donation to fight homelessness on their bill.
Since 2003, the annual DineSmart campaign has seen restauranteurs partner with their diners in the lead up to Christmas to raise funds and support their local community.
Together, DineSmart and its partners have helped StreetSmart raise more than $5 million for 569 grassroots homeless organisations, sparking a number of innovative projects that are leading local responses to homelessness.
Last year top fundraisers included cafés Top Paddock, Higher Ground, Kettle Black and Café Sydney.
“We think it’s important for business to give back to their local community – and DineSmart is such an effective, simple way to effect meaningful change in people’s lives,” says Sam Christie, Owner of Longrain, The Apollo and Cho Cho Sans.
StreetSmart says big or small, CBD or regional, fine dining or casual, all hospitality venues can be part of the DineSmart community.
In total, DineSmart has funded 1567 different projects to provide essential and innovative services. Organisations have included Orange Sky Laundry, Homie, The Street Socceroos, FareShare, Wear for Success and Second Bite.
The campaign runs from 21 November to 31 December and hopes to raise at least $250,000 for homelessness projects during the busy run into Christmas.
