Throughout December, diners made a difference with their end of year meals and festive feasts. Collectively, restaurants and diners have generated $148,900 for grassroots homelessness services. At a time when demand for housing is so high, rates of rough sleeping continue to climb, and frontline workers are overstretched, this funding will bring immediate relief.
It’s been a special year for our annual DineSmart campaign which celebrated two decades of collaborative impact with the hospitality industry. Last month we held a 20th Anniversary Fundraising Dinner to recognise this incredible milestone and scale up the impact of the fundraising throughout DineSmart December. The event was a roaring success and has brought this year’s DineSmart tally to $176,723 in funds for employment, training and education programs for vulnerable people.
In December, restaurants and diners alike rallied around DineSmart to support disadvantaged people into life-changing programs. We know that already disadvantaged groups, including at-risk youth, migrants and refugees, and older women have been disproportionately impacted by the COVID pandemic and continue to experience barriers to employment. To respond to the ongoing challenges our recent DineSmart campaign has raised funds to target support to smaller, local organisations that provide vital job training, readiness and pathways programs to vulnerable groups in our communities.
StreetSmart’s first ever campaign, DineSmart, celebrates its 20th year this December. The hospitality industry led campaign has brought together hundreds of restaurants and their diners, helping StreetSmart raise over $10 million for their local homeless charities. As we encourage restaurants to sign up to DineSmart 2022 now, we take a moment to reflect back on how everything started back in 2003
Back in December, our loyal restaurateurs and their staff led the 19th year of DinerSmart, chatting with customers and advocating for a world without homelessness. Thanks to their fundraising efforts and everyone’s generosity the event raised $84,250 that has just been distributed across 26 community partners!
We have officially launched the 19th year of DineSmart in Australia! From December 1st until December 31st over 60 venues across the country will be taking actions against homelessness, raising money together with their generous dinners. These are vital funds that StreetSmart will map and pool back into their communities, to support grassroots homeless organisations and services in their area.
Visa holders William and Lorena working at FareShare
“I truly believe this grant will be lifesaving…”
Peter Valpiani, The Haymarket Foundation
It seems an entire lifetime ago but back in December and before the January bushfire crisis and the COVID-19 pandemic, just over 100 restaurants around Australia teamed up with their customers to raise funds for local homeless services. This was our 17th DineSmart campaign and our dedicated band of restaurateurs and their staff drove the event – chatting with customers and advocating for a world without homelessness. Little did they know what lay ahead for them and their businesses, and just how important these funds would be for frontline services dealing with a crisis the likes we haven’t seen in a generation.
Last week 33 community grants worth $191,150, funded by DineSmart 2019 donations, were distributed in VIC, NSW, QLD and SA. Read More
We will be sharing a lot of the positive impact we’re able to make in the coming days and weeks. Read More
StreetSmart is an inclusive, respectful, and welcoming workplace that values diversity of expression. We know that members of the LGBTQIA+ community are particularly vulnerable to experiencing homelessness and we partner with organisations that work to support people in need, without discrimination or prejudice.
We acknowledge the Wurundjeri people of the Kulin Nation as the Traditional Custodians of the unceded lands on which our organisation is located and where we conduct our business. We pay our respects to Elders, past and present. StreetSmart is committed to honouring Indigenous peoples’ unique cultural and spiritual relationships to the land, waters and seas and their rich contribution to society.
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