2020 was drawing to a close, but Victoria’s hospitality community was still deep in the midst of an industry and-career-crippling pandemic. The Covid-19 exhaustion was palpable across the board, save for one pocket of the industry – where our community digs deep to help each other out.
Good ideas come from breaking bread. When Georgia Bateman (Publicist), Francesca Webster (GM Raes on Wategoes), and Kylie Ball (Guest Relations at Harvest Newrybar) had lunch they came up with the initiative to support the hospitality industry in Melbourne. Georgia then contacted Pat Nourse at Melbourne Food and Wine to discuss ideas and charities to support, which led to the Tip Jar Fund connection, and the
aptly named Byron for Melbourne campaign was born. Together they contacted a bunch of hospitality legends found in NSW Northern Rivers region to host a month of fundraising, with all proceeds going towards Worksmith’s Tip Jar Fund – a collection set up to help hospitality workers left without work, and without government assistance.
From setting up their own tip-jars, to raffles, auctions, special events and good-old-fashioned word of mouth, over 6 weeks, a collection of the Northern River’s leading venues came together to raise $10,000 for the humble little Tip Jar Fund. The generosity of the venues and their patrons is already being forwarded on to Tip Jar’s partner Street Smart and COVID-EAD, which helps many local and international hospitality workers who are still doing it especially tough.
“It’s been absolutely unreal to see Byron’s hospitality community pull together for the Tip Jar Fund. It’s one of the reasons we love this industry so much – it’s always the first to offer a helping hand”. – Michael Bascetta, Founder Tip Jar Fund
Worksmith would like to take this opportunity to thank the following venues for their incredibly generous contributions to the Tip Jar Fund:
Raes
Harvest Newrybar
Natural Ice-Cream Australia
La Casita
CHUPACABRA
Pipit
Brookies Gin
Luna Wine Store
Byron at Byron
Cadeau
Three Blue Ducks
Brick Lane Brewing (beer sponsor)
Peter Simic (wine sponsor)
We know how hard it was. How uncertain it still is, but one thing is for sure – this community shows up when it counts, and the Tip Jar Fund has raised over $46,000 thanks to you. It’s never too late to donate to a good cause, you can #giveatip here: https://donorbox.org/tipjarbyron
For more information contact: Georgia Bateman
georgia@georgiabateman.com / 0402 830 056