I recently discovered a wonderful campaign in Australia that was started by a group of restaurant owners. This campaign is called StreetSmart, sort of a fund-raising campaign aimed at helping the homeless of their respective communities. These restaurants encouraged their diners to add AUS$2 to their bill, not as tip but as small help to the homeless people in the community. Check out their video campaign right here.
Every restaurant in the area was encouraged to join and to this date, they have about 185 member restaurants. In 2007 alone they were able to raise AUS$400,000+ ! What a way to give back to the community! 100% of the money they collect go to charitable organizations who work closely with the homeless. They’ve kept them fed, involved in sports and community activities.
StreetSmart has an active facebook page (check it out here).
We established StreetSmart Australia in 2003 to support and strengthen smaller, grassroots community organisations helping the homeless, frustrated by the lack of action and support from Government. These smaller organisations are critical in helping many people in crisis. StreetSmart helps out by raising funds and delivering financial grants, raising community awareness of the issues of homelessness and assisting these organisations to connect across their communities.
We see StreetSmart as a unique bridge between those that want to help people experiencing homelessness and the grassroots agencies that are changing lives. We support critical services and emergency aid as well as projects that promote social inclusion, empowerment and sustainable change for the homeless.
When money is raised from the public through our fundraising events, 100 per cent of your donations is distributed in the form of grants. To date we have raised and distributed over $480,000.
We currently operate in Victoria, New South Wales, Queensland and ACT. In 2008 we will be continuing to expand our efforts.