By Andy Dalton
An Armley based charity was thrilled to receive a visit from Leeds West and Pudsey MP Rachel Reeves this week.
Staff and volunteers at the Leeds City Mission (LCM) Compassion Centre in Mistress Lane welcomed Ms Reeves on a recent visit to their premises.
The LCM team had invited her to visit so that she could discover more about their work with marginalised people in West Leeds.
LCM Coordinator Andrew Dalton was able to explain how its projects were helping local people in need and those struggling with life.
These included their Pantry Project foodbank and how it is meeting the rising demand from hungry families; their shower facility for rough sleepers; its charity shop providing a range of items to enable low-income residents stretch their limited budgets; work experience for people seeking to reconnect with mainstream living after experiencing difficulties in life; clothing and household items grants for destitute individuals.
Ms Reeves also heard about other projects organised by the City Mission.
She was introduced to a staff member who has spent the last two decades in prison.
Claire Newton works as the LCM prison chaplain in HMP Leeds and Wetherby Young Offenders Institute. Ms Newton was able to relate to her some of the pressing issues faced by inmates serving sentences and the importance of support for people after release.
Staff were able to share the significance of their Christmas Kids Present Project. This annual event ensures that scores of children from deprived backgrounds wake up on Christmas morning with a guaranteed present to celebrate the season.
Ms Reeves had a brief tour of the Compassion Centre premises where she was shown the painted mural on the side wall of the Compassion Centre. On a background of painted trees are a list of key words taken directly from the Bible such as love, joy, peace, kindness, patience, goodness.
Mr Dalton explained that these reflected the values and purpose of all the projects undertaken by Leeds City Mission.
The inspiration for all their work was inspired by their personal Christian faith and they expressed this in word and deed in many ways.
The mural had been painted by a volunteer enabling the 100-year-old red brick building to gracefully blend with the surrounding grassed area, vegetation and trees.
Ms Reeves commended the work of the City Mission and its volunteers. She said: “It was wonderful to meet with the Leeds City Mission team in Armley and hear about the fantastic work they do supporting people in need across the city. A huge thank you to Andrew and all the volunteers for their warm welcome and for everything they do in our communities.”
Chairman of the Management Committee Paul Crossley said that Leeds City Mission were grateful to Ms Reeves for her visit.
He said that her dual role as constituency MP and Chancellor of the Exchequer meant that she carried an enormous amount of responsibility and had an incredible amount of pressure on her time. Nevertheless, she had found a window in her busy schedule to visit their Compassion Centre and encourage staff and volunteers in their vital work. This had been very much appreciated.
She was presented with a book “The Houses of Parliament – Cradle of Democracy” as a memento of her visit. LCM staff thought that the richly illustrated book would be of great interest as it provides the history and background to the palace of Westminster where she spends so much of her time.
Leeds City Mission is one of the oldest charities in the city and has been in continuous existence since 1837. Its Compassion Centre is opposite Armley Library. It is a multi-church agency and seeks to meet the physical, social and spiritual needs of Leeds residents.
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Compassion and Rachel Reeves in the same sentence.
Exact comment Colin, she is a complete and utterly dishonest person. Same as starmer another A..ewipe.
Why so much hate Lawrence?
Presumably the people involved in the organisations receiving a visit from the Chancellor of the Exchequer, which we the public are now only advised about after the event, are ‘handpicked’ and are not allowed to ask any sort of question of her with regards to the, to put it nicely, severe decline in standards within our once proud nation over the past 12 months!
My thoughts exactly. When me and my children were homeless she refused to help as the council had temporarily placed us in an inhumane place outside of “her area” completely out of my hands, although we had lived in “her area” for 10+ years, the children attended school within that community and myself work.
Wow compassion is certainly not in her bones.
I don’t know how she sleeps at night.
She probably sleeps very soundly because I would imagine that none of the decisions that she and her fellow cohorts make don’t really impact on her life like they impact on ours!
They are the same as any government and that is liars, and traitors.