Charitable foodies have been raising money for World Jewish Relief’s humanitarian aid work in Eastern Europe.

At dinner parties throughout the country in recent weeks, guests have been asked to make a donation to WJR rather than bring a gift for the hosts. The initiative has also heightened awareness of the charity’s activities.

Those staging Dine In Help Out events include Nurit Lasarow from West Hampstead, who celebrated her birthday by inviting friends to afternoon tea, raising more than £400.

Ms Lasarow was inspired by having joined other young professionals on a WJR visit to Moldova last year, seeing at “first-hand the incredible support World Jewish Relief gives to both communities and individuals.

“I could not have wished for a better birthday present than for myself and my friends to be able to donate to WJR.”

A further £500 was raised from a dinner hosted by Pauline Levis in Finchley.

“It was most enjoyable to spend a lovely Saturday evening with friends old and new, Jewish and non-Jewish,” she said. “What made it even more meaningful was that it was in support of a charity very near to my heart.”

Samantha Martin organised an Eastern European-inspired event in East Finchley, with borscht and blinis on the menu. Proceeds totalled £340.

“It was so nice not to receive wine and flowers for a change and instead to know that all my guests were making donations to such a great cause,” she said

The charity anticipates generating £6,000 from Dine In Help Out and David Nielsen, its fundraising development head, said it was linked to WJR’s Warm Homes programme, “where older people in Ukraine, Moldova and Georgia gather to eat, drink and make friends as a way of combating loneliness”.