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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