GENEROUS south Essex diners who raised £5,000 for a homeless charity as part of an Echo-backed campaign have seen their donations matched by the Government.

Hundreds of people donated to the StreetSmart campaign at Christmas, in support of those living on the streets.

The Southend-based Homeless Action Resource Project (Harp) joined national charity StreetSmart to appeal to restaurant customers’s generosity over the festive period.

The Echo backed the campaign by asking local restaurants to encourage customers to donate £1 then they paid their bills during November and December.

Similar campaigns have run each Christmas for the past six years and its recent success has secured match-funding from the Office of Civic Society, part of the Cabinet Office, doubling the total available to Harp to £10,000.

Four main restaurants were involved – the Grove in Leigh, Il Pescatore in Southend, Affinity 1777 in Leigh and Ocean Beach in Southend. Over the six years ,Grove owners Delvin and Louise Pitt and their staff have raised an amazing £10,000 on their own.

Mr Pitt said: “It provides us with the opportunity to do something to help others less fortunate. Our customers are so supportive. Without them we would not have been able to raise that amount.”

Stephen Colyer runs StreetSmart for Harp, which runs a day centre, a night shelter and a medium-stay hostel in Westcliff and Southend.

He said: “We have been very fortunate to have received tremendous support from the Echo since I brought StreetSmart to Southend and with the fantastic efforts of our local restaurants we have managed to raised a total of more than £30,000 in that time.”

“Every penny raised goes to the homeless in our area. Harp gets all the money raised.”