And the total is…
After campaigning and collecting donations since the 20th May, the Leave Leeds Tidy team have been able to collect a staggering 13.37 tonnes of items, saving it from landfill and putting it to much better use. This is up 4.67 tonnes from last year’s total of 8.7.
Let us take a look at some of the weird and wonderful donations we received, as well as sharing some stories from the Community Free Shop…
Saving the office’s favourite til last…
Along with the weirder donations we also came across some more expensive items, which were raffled at the Community Free Shop. This includes: 3 television’s, 2 PlayStation 2’s with some accessories and games, A Kindle, A keyboard, a bicycle, 2 microwaves and a brand new pair of Adidas trainers.
The Community Free Shop was a huge success with over 200 people attending over the 3 days.
Upon setting up the free shop and giving out raffle tickets I was able to talk to many people who passed through All Hallows over the three days it was running. Here are just a few stories from the people I met during the week;
- One couple had recently moved into the area after their house burnt down. They were excited to here about the free shop as some of the financial worries about having to relocate was taken away. They were very grateful that they could just take things away for free as they were struggling to manage to refurbish their home with even some of the basic things we use in everyday life.
- Another man, who won both the bike and trainers in the raffle, was thrilled to have been part of the free shop and to win in the raffle on two of the days. He came to the UK as an asylum seeker and is settling into Leeds. He regularly attends the Rainbow Junktion café and enjoys the support from the community through All Hallows. He was happy with the free shop and appreciative that he left with a new bike and trainers.
- One lady who stopped by was working for a youth centre, and after entering the raffle won an electronic keyboard. She was delighted to be able to return with the prize and share it with the young people she works with. It is good for the campaign to make connections with other community groups in Leeds and can spread the good work across the city.
Someone from the community wrote a piece specifically for the blog to stress the importance of the work LLT is carrying out;
“1kg brown rice, a jar of sun-dried tomatoes, pesto, tea bags and baked beans. It might sound like an interesting recipe but is in fact just some of salvaged items from bin bags down my street… Hyde Park Christmas [as the locals call the changeover period] has hit hard… many of us celebrate Hyde Park Christmas by trying to save as much as we can from landfill. Sometimes it is for personal use, most of it is passed on to charity shops, All Hallows Church and the Rainbow Junktion cafe. We take care to leave the bags we have went through neat, sadly this is not the case for all. Some people rip open bags both in and out of bins, take anything of financial worth and leave the mess behind.”
“We do appreciate how hard the Leave Leeds Tidy team and its volunteers work- thank you… thank you to the local councillors giving money to help clean up the mess left behind… thanks again to everyone who works hard to minimise the unnecessary waste going to landfill.”
It is stories such as these that make all the efforts worthwhile, and being able to see the impact it can make. It also highlights just how much more we can be doing and the potential the campaign has to spread across the city.
Reflections and thoughts from the 2018 Campaign Coordinator;
It has been a pleasure working with the campaign for another year, and is definitely something I will always be keeping up to date with. Leeds is a great city, and the student impact does not go unnoticed, but this does not have to be negatively. Environmentally and socially projects such as LLT show how students can make a positive difference on the cities they move in to and I am excited to see how it continues to grow and evolve over the years.
To all the team at LUU and our partners, thank you for a great few months and all the hard work and support.
To my successor, take the reins and beat the 13 tonnes raised this year. Continue to make more connections and spread the joy of the campaign. With the Christmas and Easter campaigns along with the summer campaign there is so much potential that even after 10 years we are only just beginning to scratch the surface of what we can achieve.
There are exciting things to come and I very much look forward to seeing where the path will lead.
