Holbeck Together celebrated their 30th Anniversary on Friday (11 November 2022) with a well attended event at St Matthew’s Community Centre.
Formerly Holbeck Elderly Aid, the organisation has been serving the people of Holbeck since 1992. Today Holbeck Together provides a range of services for people of all ages including:
- Hot meals
- Social activities
- Advice
- Transport
- Shopping trips
- A charity shop
- A social supermarket
They have built strong partnerships with businesses such as Leeds Building Society and Leeds United as well as other local charities and schools.
Speaking at the event CEO Elissa Newman said:
“We are celebrating 30 years as a charity in the heart of Holbeck. What a community! We couldn’t operate and do what we do without everybody that lives in Holbeck, our volunteers and our wonderful staff team.”
“We face a lot of challenges in Holbeck. We faced the pandemic, we kept our doors open and supplied 13,000 meals into the community. We are now facing the cost-of-living challenges – should we have food or should we have our heating on? What’s really important for us is that there are safe, warm spaces such as St Matthew’s.”
Patron, Hilary Benn MP added:
“To think of from whence you have come, to where you are today and what you’re going to do in the future there’s a huge amount to celebrate.
“The thing I remember more than anything else is that every single time I come into St Matthew’s, and I’ve been coming into St Matthew’s for 23 years, is the warmth. Not just the warmth (the heat) but the warmth of the welcome and that’s what I associate above all else with Holbeck Together.
“People come in here in all sorts of frames of mind: happy, sad, worried, troubled and what you do is provide support and laughter and tears sometimes, a shoulder to cry, on a helping hand. And whatever the troubles we may have come in with, we feel better when we leave.
“Given the cost-of-living crisis, the work that you do is even more important now than it has ever been. Because when times are even tougher, the support and friendship and warm welcome you receive when you walk in here really, really matters. That’s why I’m so proud to be the Patron of Holbeck Together.”
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