THE founder of a Scottish homelessness charity has revealed his secret to securing backing from high-profile celebrities such as George Clooney and Leonardo DiCaprio.
Josh Littlejohn, who set up the food provision charity, and head of events company Itison, Oli Norman, were questioned during a podcast appearance about they persuaded Clooney to support their campaign.
During the interview the entrepreneurs, whose Christmas campaigns have raised more than £3 million since 2014, detailed how the Hollywood A-lister was invited to speak at the Scottish Business Awards through the celebrity's charity, Not on our Watch.
READ MORE: Social Bite opens London cafe with visit from Martin Compston
Mr Littlejohn sent the letter, received confirmation Clooney would speak – and then chanced his arm further by inviting him to visit a Social Bite cafe while in Scotland, he said on the Blethered podcast with Sean McDonald.
Since then, the charity has received support and welcomed visits from Leonardo DiCaprio, Prince Harry and Megan Markle, and Malala Yousaf.
The businessmen were speaking to promote the launch of the eight year of the fundraising campaign designed to buy more than 100,000 meals and gifts for homeless people this Christmas.
Running since 2014, the annual Christmas appeal from itison and the social enterprise Social Bite has raised £3 million so far and given 700,000 donations to those who need it most.
Last year, despite the hardship felt by many following the pandemic, more than 100,000 donations were made and this year organisers hope the joint campaign will be as great a success.
There are also plans to gift the first £20,000 raised to Spirit of Christmas, which gives Christmas presents to children living in poverty in around Glasgow.
Oli Norman, CEO at itison, said this year has been "exceptionally tough", adding: "Every year we are blown away by the generosity of our members, and this year, at a time when support is needed more than ever, our hope is to raise enough through our Social Bite campaign to feed homeless people for the entire year."
Josh Littlejohn, co-founder of Social Bite, an organisation where one in four of its team has a background of homelessness, added: “Back in 2014 we started working with itison on our annual fundraiser, with a target of 800 Christmas dinners.
"We ended up receiving more than 32,000 donations meaning we could feed homeless people coming to our cafes for the whole year.
READ MORE: Social Bite founder says homeless village 'won't be a ghetto'
"Our annual itison fundraiser continues to exceed our expectations every year and has dramatically shaped the work we can do at Social Bite."
In Scotland, Social Bite’s Glasgow, Edinburgh, and Aberdeen cafes will open their doors to the homeless on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day from 11am to 4pm to serve Christmas dinners.
As well as providing food to those in need and providing gifts, itison members' donations have previously helped fund the Social Bite Village in Edinburgh, providing housing and support services.
Social Bite is currently working towards two new villages elsewhere in Scotland.
To donate see www.itison.com/donate
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