A fundraiser has been launched asking people to donate £5 to charity Social Bite to help give homeless Aberdonians a meal and warm place to go this Christmas.
The campaign has been launched by Itison for the eighth year in a row and the charity will open its doors in the Granite City to the homeless on both Christmas Day and Christmas Eve.
Its Aberdeen cafe, which is located on Union Street, will be open between 11am and 4pm on these days, where it will serve Christmas dinners with all of the trimmings, while offering food and company to homeless people.
Donations will go towards buying over 100,000 meals and gifts for homeless people across Scotland this Christmas.
Running since 2014, the appeal has raised £3m and 700,000 donations to those who need it most.
Last year, over 100,000 donations were made, with 63% coming from new contributors across the country.
‘Fundraiser exceeds expectations every year’
Co-founder of Social Bite, Josh Littlejohn said: “Back in 2014 we started working with itison on our annual fundraiser, with a target of 800 Christmas dinners. We ended up receiving over 32,000 donations meaning we could feed homeless people coming to our cafes for the whole year.
“Our annual Itison fundraiser continues to exceed our expectations every year and has dramatically shaped the work we can do at Social Bite.
“We couldn’t do it without you and would love you to join us in sharing kindness this Christmas, please share it with all your friends and help the people who need it the very most this year.”
Itison chief executive Oli Norman added: “This year has been exceptionally tough and the most vulnerable in our society have been hit the hardest.
“More people than ever before are struggling and Christmas for homeless people and families is an especially challenging time.
“Every year we are blown away by the generosity of our members, and this year, at a time when support is needed more than ever, our hope is to raise enough through our Social Bite campaign to feed homeless people for the entire year.”
Last month, TV stars Martin Kemp and Emma and Matt Willis helped Social Bite launch its Festival of Kindness in Aberdeen.
The Press and Journal, Evening Express, Original 106 and Energy Voice are joining forces to shine a light on the tireless work that groups, charities and volunteers are doing to keep the most vulnerable fed.
Once again we’re working closely with charity Cfine, which supports communities across Grampian and the Highlands and Islands.
