Cin Cin customers raise over £1600 for The Clock Tower Sanctuary

Cin Cin customers have shown their sweet side for the Brighton homelessness charity The Clock Tower Sanctuary.

Over £1600 has been raised since we offered to donate £1 every time a customer purchased an Affogato at our Vine Street restaurant. 

The charity provides support to homeless young people (aged 16-25) in Brighton & Hove. They offer outreach, crisis support, activities, life skills classes and one to one support.

Cin Cin founder David Toscano said: “I have always seen the role of our business to be beyond the four walls of our restaurant. We employ local people, pay The Living Wage, give work experience to college students interested in hospitality and have hosted charity dinners with other Brighton restaurants. 

“But I what I really want to do is help tackle homelessness in Brighton. It is such a visible issue in our city and when a number of people recommended The Clock Tower Sanctuary to me, it felt like the right partnership to help make a difference.”

The charity receives £1 from Cin Cin, every time a customer orders the ice-cream coffee dessert. Clock Tower Sanctuary Fundraising Assistant, Alison Boyce said: “Gosh those £1 donations certainly add up  – that is one top dessert! 

“The £1,600 has made a huge difference and has gone towards the costs of keeping our centre and kitchen open six days a week. Volunteers are our lifeblood and the £1,600 enables us to train eight volunteers to provide one to one support to enable young people get their lives back on track. This includes DBS checks, induction, monthly training and supervision. Last year, our volunteers provided 8,500 hours of support and 14 volunteers moved into their first paid role in the homeless, mental health, addiction and counselling sector via their experience at the Clock Tower Sanctuary.

“Without contributions like this from Cin Cin, we would not have that growth in services and support.”

Following the huge success of the partnership, David Toscano is keen for Cin Cin to do even more for the charity, saying:  “This is just the start for us. The Clock Tower runs cooking classes for young homeless people to learn how to cook, a skill I was lucky enough to grow up with. We want our young chefs to help run these classes. 

“The charity also needs more kitchen equipment – cooking utensils, stainless steel benches, a pasta machine, roasting pans and much more. We can help with some of these but I’m reaching out to other Brighton restaurants to see if they can donate spare kit too. Any support, however big or small, can make a real difference.”

If you want to offer support to The Clock Tower Sanctuary get in touch by calling 01273 722 353 or emailing info@thects.org.uk.

To book your place at Cin Cin Vine Street and try one of our Affogatos visit cincin.co.uk/book.