StreetSmart charity moves into hotels with SleepSmart

Restaurant charity StreetSmart, which supports the homeless, is to branch out into the hotels sector, with the launch of a sister campaign entitled SleepSmart, Caterersearch can reveal.

The new initiative, which will run throughout November and December, will build on the original fundraiser, where diners add an optional £1 to their bill.

SleepSmart will see participating hotels ask their customers to make a voluntary donation of £1 on top of their hotel bill.

The money raised will be used to help the homeless, including the provision of sleeping bags, clothing, laundry, showers, medical help, employment and social security advice, vans for food delivery and support for the abused.

The scheme is sponsored by Deutsche Bank, which covers all of StreetSmart and SleepSmart's administration costs, so all proceeds go directly to the charity's projects.

SleepSmart manager Jennie Blouet told Caterersearch the campaign was a natural extension to StreetSmart. "StreetSmart has run for 12 years now and SleepSmart has grown out of it. The link between homelessness and hotel accommodation is as much of a synergy as the link between homelessness and food at restaurants," she said.

"The campaign will start in London this year but we hope that it will extend across the country over the coming years. We have a number of boutique hotel operators already signed up but would love to get chains involved, too."

Since its inception in 1998, StreetSmart has raised more than £4.2m for the homeless. The 2009 Christmas campaign alone, in which more than 550 restaurants in 18 cities across the UK took part, raised £455,000.

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By Kerstin Kühn

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