Diners in Birmingham are being encouraged to support the homeless this Christmas by donating £1 on their bills to the annual StreetSmart campaign.

Some of the city’s top restaurants are backing the fundraising drive, which in previous years has raised £26,500, every penny of which has been spent locally.

All the money raised through donations goes directly to St Basils, which provides accommodation and support services to young homeless people across Birmingham, Solihull and North Worcestershire.

Using a table card, or a reference on the menu, participating restaurants add a voluntary £1 to the table bill during November and December.

At the end of each month, the restaurant passes all the proceeds to StreetSmart, which in Birmingham supports St Basils.

This year’s StreetSmart city restaurants include Edmunds in Brindleyplace; Simpsons of Edgbaston; Opus in Cornwall Street (December only); Aria at the Hyatt Hotel; both the Circle and Stage Side restaurants at Birmingham Hippodrome; Kababish in Boldmere and Moseley; and Nathaniel’s of Moseley.

Despite the recession, last year was the best ever year for StreetSmart in Birmingham with diners donating £6,000, which was allocated to St Basils’ schools training and mentoring programme.

This year the proceeds will help to support the charity’s learning, skills and work programme.

Anne Morton, spokeswoman for St Basils, said: “The funds St Basils has received over the years have helped our young people so much, particularly in allowing our young people to continue or re-engage with formal education, helping them build an independent future for themselves.”

Andreas Antona, chef-patron at Michelin-starred Simpsons, said: “Once again Simpsons is very proud to be associated and assisting with the StreetSmart campaign. It is particularly important during these difficult economic times to support and remember those who are suffering great hardship.”

Gary Aymes, the Hippodrome’s director of hospitality and service, said: “Birmingham Hippodrome has participated in the Streetsmart campaign for four years and last year our diners helped to raise over £1,000. We are once again delighted to support this very worthwhile cause.”

Edmunds has also supported StreetSmart for a number of years. Chef-patron Andy Waters said: “It is an easy way for our diners to support the local community and help those less fortunate at Christmas.”

Ann Tonks, director at Opus, said the restaurant and its customers were particularly pleased with StreetSmart’s focus on local charities.

St Basils helps 4,000 young people each year, providing emergency accommodation and helping to prevent youth homelessness. It needs to raise at least £500,000 per year to maintain services. Next year, the charity will celebrate the 40th anniversary of the original night shelter opening at the rear of St Basils Church, Digbeth. The St Basils Link was opened in 1978 to provide a site for personal counselling and help for young homeless people.

The charity works with 16 to 25-year-olds, including some young mothers and fathers with babies and young children.

* For more information about StreetSmart, go to www.streetsmart.org.uk


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More than 300 people from every walk of life are set to experience the realities of sleeping rough in a bid to raise as much money as possible for the region’s homeless young people.

The St Basil’s SleepOut event, which has raised hundreds of thousands of pounds for the cause over the years, is on Friday, December 2.

The event sees every person taking part – which usually includes a number of high profile figures from the city’s professional community – issued with a cardboard box in which they have to sleep in a car park in Digbeth.

Two of the main sponsors for the event are Jaffabox and Harvey Nichols. Jaffabox has supported this event since 2005 and has donated in total more than 30 tonnes of cardboard in that time, enabling the volunteers to build their own imaginative dwellings for the night.

Harvey Nichols has been a keen supporter of the Big SleepOut since 2007 and has provided thousands of bacon sandwiches and hot drinks over the last four years. Staff from the luxury store have also taken part in the challenge itself.

Kevin Breese said: “The Big SleepOut has become a very important date on the city’s fund-raising calendar, and I have been delighted to see how many businesses are now backing such a worthy event.

“It would be fantastic to see even more teams join in this year. Yes, it’s cold and uncomfortable, but it really is a fun way to help raise awareness of homelessness in our city!”

* If anyone is interested in taking part then please register by visiting www.stbasils.org.uk/sleepout