Donations to homelessness charity top £500,000

Hospitality charity Only A Pavement Away has distributed donations worth over £500,000 through its Hospitality Against Homelessness campaign, since launching the initiative earlier this year at the height of the COVID-19 lockdown.

Fundraising highlights include the Tom Aikens Charity Cookery Challenge and a partnership with Bums On Seats, as well as the launch of the UK’s first charity jobs board geared specifically towards the hospitality sector.

“The last few months have proved to be some of the most difficult in living memory for everyone involved in hospitality and it has been extremely tough to see so many of our people fall into unemployment and economic hardship as the lockdown measures begin to bite,” says Greg Mangham, founder of Only A Pavement Away.

“I am eternally grateful for the all support that we have been shown during this time from hospitality leaders and celebrity chefs to the Great British public whose enthusiasm for our work and generous donations have enabled us to help so many individuals during this testing time.”

The Tom Aikens Charity Cookery Challenge asks participants to share a video of themselves cooking a five-minute meal on social media, donate £5 to the charity and nominate five friends to get involved too.

A new cookbook featuring up to 180 recipes created during the challenge will be available from November 2020 in both miniature booklet and hardback formats, with all proceeds going towards supporting both Only A Pavement Away members and non-members get back into work.

Only A Pavement Away recently introduced the first charity jobs board geared specifically towards the hospitality sector in association with Hospitality Jobs UK and Cue Media.

Through the new Candidate Profile Page, launched on 21 July 2020, employer partners can review candidate profiles and shortlist them for interviews, before hiring through the charity.

To find out more about Only A Pavement Away, register your interest as a volunteer, or make a donation, operators can visit onlyapavementaway.co.uk.