"I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me" Matthew 25:31

An integral component in the All Souls growing suite of 'In Faith' projects (which aim to increase our Churches presence in our community and provide much needed services and support) our Parochial Church Council is pleased to announce that our Food for those in Need project is commencing during February 2017. This project will compliment our other recent initiatives, the All Souls Community Garden and the All Souls Counselling service.

The vision of our former Churchwarden, Monica Richardson-Sowe, this project will support those in need within our local community, the hungry, the homeless and those who are lonely and socially isolated. People will be free to come into our Church Undercroft and receive a hot drink, soup, a warm environment, friendly faces and listening ears.

Monica is a keen cook and works for Leeds City Council in one of their Children's Centres. She is renowned for her cooking skill and refuses to use 'any of that frozen or pre-packaged food'. It is hoped that in time we will be able to use the produce from our Community Garden, however due to our current kitchen facilities, we have had to ask Monica to shelve her usual high standards and use pre-packaged foods in order to start the project this winter.

Over the coming months we hope to work in partnership with local businesses' and catering companies who have social and corporate responsibility policies for the use of their waste food to allow us to utilise leftover food as part of our Food for those in Need project. We are also working with Leeds Food Aid Network to ensure that our efforts are most effectively utilised within the community and reaching those in need.