#EatOutHelpOut: StreetSmart SA restaurants helping their communities out

La Mouette - Gerrit Bruwer, Henry and Mari Vigar

StreetSmart SA is a conduit fundraising organisation that partners with restaurants to receive donations from diners to support their own locally based beneficiary organisations. In this way, locally run programmes that prevent the vulnerable from becoming street children, and help children already on the streets through reintegration back into schools or families can be funded.

Last year, StreetSmart restaurants and their diners raised over R1 million nationally. The top five contributing restaurants were: La Mouette (Cape Town), who raised R89,219, Savoy Cabbage (Cape Town), raising R62,409, Nonna Lina (Cape Town), who raised R44,500, Le Quartier Français (Franchhoek), raising R44,126, and Nguni Restaurant (Plettenberg Bay), who raised R31,060.

Savoy Cabbage Team with owner, Caroline Bagly, and Chef Peter Pankhurst

Nonna Lina Team with owner Antonello Scamuzzi

THe LQF Team with Chef Margot Janse

Natalie Eray and Jacqui Carter-Johnson, Nguni owners

"Making a difference within needy communities by consciously and responsibly contributing to a worthy cause, is such a big part of the La Mouette story. We work very long hours and wish we could spend actual time doing charity work - however, this is not always possible therefore StreetSmart provides the ideal vessel for us to help a wonderful and tangible cause. Our guests and staff are continuously inspired by the work that StreetSmart does, and we at La Mouette are most proud to be associated with StreetSmart and to support this wonderful initiative. All restaurants should join up immediately! You will not regret doing so - it will become your favourite EFT of the month," says Mari Vigar, co-owner of La Mouette, the top achieving restaurant in 2016.

Following in the wake of the top five are restaurants such as Aubergine (Cape Town), Waterkloof Restaurant (Somerset West), The Fat Fish (Plettenberg Bay), The Roundhouse (Cape Town), and The Taj Hotel Restaurants (Cape Town).

Eat out, help out

Every cent of the donations received in StreetSmart restaurants, go to organisations that support vulnerable children through education, skills training and family reunification, in order to give them a chance to normalise their lives and to be re-integrated into society. "We thank every one of our restaurant partners; they go out of their way to support us to raise funds for our beneficiaries. So dine out and donate in a StreetSmart restaurant. Giving money to a child on the street, simply keeps them on the street," says Melanie Burke, StreetSmart chairman.

StreetSmart SA invites more restaurants to participate and more diners to choose to go to StreetSmart restaurants – in this way more children’s lives can be changed.

StreetSmart SA was set up in 2005 by a group of concerned Capetonians under the patronage of Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu and comprises resourceful board members representing business and the hospitality and tourism industries. Similar StreetSmart organisations also run independently in the UK, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, India, USA – San Francisco and The Netherlands.

StreetSmart SA is registered as a public benefit organisation as well as a non-profit organisation and ensures that every cent donated by diners goes towards social and educational upliftment projects for street children. StreetSmart's goal is to be part of the process of social normalisation and to encourage the public not to give money into the hands of a child as this keeps them on the streets.