Leeds City council is working alongside Voluntary Action Leeds, voluntary, community and social enterprise organisations to establish a network of Warm Spaces across Leeds this winter.

Today we catch up with Lily Arnold, Centre Co-ordinator at Woodhouse Community Centre. They have been running as a warm space since November and have seen numbers steadily increasing.

“it’s been amazing; we are getting over 40 people attending our lunch clubs on Tuesdays and Wednesdays.”

Lily explains the vital role that the cafe plays in bringing local people together:

“It’s a big thing in Woodhouse, the divide between local people and the student population. The lunch club helps to bridge that gap; the tables are mixed, you will see students and local people sitting, talking and eating together.”

 And from such a great initiative comes lots of volunteering opportunities; however small, acts of kindness are vital in supporting more vulnerable people in communities.

“We serve up to 50 meals a day; we have a wide and varied menu too; we also see people taking hot meals to drop off with their neighbours who, for whatever reason, aren’t able to make it here,” says Lily. 

“We have got one young woman who is 17; she is a student and initially started to volunteer with us for a few hours a week at our breakfast club; it was fantastic to see her grow in confidence; she now volunteers really regularly with us, and before Christmas helped coordinate a huge fundraising event for the community centre.” Volunteers are such a vital part of what we do here.

“I’d also like to shout out all the incredible volunteers who run the lunch club,” adds Lily. “Their kindness and determination is really something to witness, and the space they have carved out in the community centre is really special”.

I asked Lily what her hope was for the future.

“I really hope I get to see a Leeds where everyone lives in dignity, where we don’t have food banks or warm spaces because every single person has a warm home and a full fridge”.

Leeds City Council has allocated funding from the West Yorkshire Mayor’s Cost Of Living Emergency Fund to support organisations that wish to operate Warm Spaces this winter. This fund is being administered by Voluntary Action Leeds (VAL) find out more here: 

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Voluntary Action Leeds