Young people in Bramley have presented care packages to St Anne’s Community Services, which is a lifeline care provider for people in need.
The young people are all aged between 12 to 18 and handed over care packages consisting of toiletries, sanitary products, anti-bacterial wipes, chocolate, energy bars, water, hats, gloves and sanitary products.
Members of Barca Leeds’ Voice, Influence and Participation Group put together the packages after raising funds by making and sell reindeer food and festive hot chocolate cones, as well as holding a raffle and a fancy dress sponsored walk.
They raised over £500, and support organisation Barca Leeds was able to match this, giving them a grand total of over £1,000.
A Barca Leeds spokesperson said: “They wanted to fundraise so they could ‘give something back to their community’ and with this they chose to run some local family events at Broadlea Community Centre.”
These included a VE Day celebration and a ‘Palentines’ event (celebrating friendship around Valentine’s Day). The majority of the funds raised went towards buying the resources needed for the care packages.
“Our young people shared that over the winter months they were seeing more and more rough sleepers on the city centre streets and in their local communities,” the spokesperson added.
“They wanted to do something to help them which is how the fundraising ideas came about. They made a podcast with staff members from Barca’s Housing Navigator Team, who support people experiencing homelessness to get into accommodation and sustain tenancies.
“Young people were interested to find out more about how people become homeless and also what kind of support exists for them.
“Most importantly they wanted to know what would be the most useful items to include in the care packages. Yesterday they were able to finally hand over the packages to St Anne’s.
“These young people have done an extraordinary job, their commitment to making a positive difference in their community is something we can all admire.”
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