Cheeky festive fundraiser raises £1,200 towards Christmas dinner and helping homeless

Gavin Vitler with Councillor Sue Smith and Georgina Jacques, of the Bowlee Community Organisation

A cheeky festive fundraiser by a Middleton man helped feed over 200 people with a Christmas dinner.

Throughout advent, Gavin Vitler set about raising money for the Bowlee Community Organisation with a series of festive-themed snaps, all whilst concealing his modesty.
 

Read more: Gavin's cheeky fundraiser raises hundreds of pounds for local families' Christmas dinnerPublished: 12 December 2023

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.

Over £1,200 was raised in total, which went towards the Bowlee Christmas dinner and dessert for families in need.

With more than enough raised to cover the costs of the festive meal, Gavin decided to donate the leftover cash and a Love2shop gift voucher to local homelessness charity, Petrus Middleton and Saving People Shelter Project.

Gavin said: “It was a busy day. Two hundred people had a Christmas dinner and deliveries were made with happy adults and children.

“We delivered to over 200 people, providing food for a Christmas dinner and I decided, with what was left, to donate to these charities helping people that they had staying with them.”

Gavin and the Bowlee Community Organisation are planning an Easter appeal, with chocolate eggs for the children and food parcels for the elderly.