Causeway: Ireland Scotland Business Exchange is pleased to share our recent Gala Black Tie Celebration of Ireland, Northern Ireland and Scotland Awards Night, raised nearly £4,000 for charity and social enterprise, Social Bite.
Each year, Causeway: Ireland Scotland Business Exchange nominates a chosen charity to raise funds for at our flagship annual Award Celebrations. This year’s Celebration was attended by approximately 250 business leaders from across Ireland, Northern Ireland and Scotland, with a keynote guest speech and fundraising raffle on the evening in aid of Social Bite.
Headquartered in Scotland, Social Bite is a social enterprise that helps the homeless through its sandwich shops, restaurant and national fundraising activities. Social Bite is one of the largest distributors of free fresh food to homeless people in the UK, annually providing over 140,000 items of food and hot drinks. In response to the recent Covid-19 pandemic, more than 800,000 emergency food packs and essential items were distributed.
At the heart of Social Bite remains a passion for empowering people to transform their own lives, with one in three of Social Bite’s staff coming from a background of homelessness.
Social Bite’s most recent fundraising campaign is targeted at creating new Social Bite Villages in Glasgow and London, following the successful establishment of the Social Bite Village in Edinburgh in 2018. A Social Bite Village is an innovative, highly supportive community for up to 20 people affected by homelessness at any one time. The purpose of the project is to bring vacant land back into use and to build a village with beautiful, prefabricated housing and a community hub.
In fundraising for Social Bite at our Causeway Awards, a speech was given on the night from Executive Chair of Social Bite, Sir Andrew Cubie CBE and a charity raffle was held as part of the evening celebration, with some generous prizes kindly donated by Chupi; Edinburgh Airport; Further.Space; The Caledonian Waldorf Astoria; Envision Management Consultants;; Tourism Ireland; and Smith Scott Mullan.
Commenting on the amount Awards guests raised on the night, Josh Littlejohn MBE, Co-Founder of Social Bite said:
“I’d like to say a huge thank you for supporting Social Bite at your Causeway Awards 2021. We are so grateful to all your members and Awards guests for their generosity.
“The money raised on the night will go towards pioneering employment and housing projects that help people break the cycle of homelessness. Thank you for your amazing support and for being part of a vision where everyone has a safe place to call home.”