Gavin's cheeky fundraiser raises hundreds of pounds for local families' Christmas dinner

Cheeky snaps of a well-known Middleton man are raising hundreds of pounds for a local community group.

Gavin Vitler has been raising money for the Bowlee Community Organisation through semi-nude photographs – making strategic use of festive items like tinsel – uploaded to a community crowdfunding page as well as his own social media, so that the community group can provide more families in need with a Christmas dinner this December.

The idea came about after Gavin was gifted £50 worth of meat vouchers for the Lee Rigby Foundation. “Them not being much use to use, we decided to gift them forward to the Bowlee Community Organisation,” he explained.

Gavin then matched the donation with another £50 and pledged to try and raise a further £100 after hearing about people’s stories of hardship.

 

 

He continued: “Thus came the idea of doing a different semi-nude pose for each day of advent. We smashed over £100 on the first day and it’s now [at the time of publication] at over £800.

“I teamed up with Councillor Sue Smith and Georgina Jacques, who do an amazing job. We’re aiming to provide ingredients for Christmas dinner for families in need.

“It’s heart-breaking that so many are hungry and can’t afford to buy the basics.”

He originally decided to upload one photo per week for the cause, but will be uploading every day until Christmas Day – and has even added Christmas cards printed with a naughty pose.

Gavin added: “The generosity of people has been amazing and even people in the street stopping me to donate. I didn’t expect to raise £100 by getting my bum out, but I’ve had amazing feedback from people who can’t wait for the next picture.

“It’s adding a little fun and joy to people during hard times.”

Georgina Jacques, of the Bowlee Community Organisation, said: “We would like to thank Gavin for all he is doing; he’s a wonderful kind and generous man.

“With this additional amazing amount of money, we will be providing so many more families in crisis Christmas dinner and dessert this year.

“It’s so important for us to offer as much support to families in our community who are struggling financially. We offer a weekly pantry where we offer up to 10 items for £4 to help families stock their cupboards so to be able to offer more families than ever before Christmas dinner, thanks to Gavin, is truly wonderful.”

Donations can be made via GoFundMe:

• www.gofundme.com/f/gavs-advent-for-local-causes