Celebrating 10 years!
Leave Leeds Tidy is turning 10 this year! During its time the project has been involved in the communities in Leeds that are heavily populated with students, as well as further afield. During the past decade the project has come a long way, diverting over 100 tonnes of items from landfill to our partner charities.
As it is a year to celebrate, over the upcoming weeks 10 stories will be shared from people who have been involved in the project either as a helping hand or those who have directly been impacted by the project. These stories invite you to join in celebrating the impact the project has been making, as well as giving us the chance to contemplate how it can continue to grow in the future.
Working together:
Leave Leeds Tidy was set up by students at Leeds University Union a decade ago and throughout the years has worked to keep items from landfill by working with different charities. In the past the project has partnered with charities such as Emmaus and Slate. In more recent years donations have gone to St Vincent de Paul, a charity dedicated to helping those in poverty. The unwanted items we collect are picked up by St Vincent’s, where they then go on to their charity shops and sold to raise money for their support centres and programmes.
A portion of the unwanted items Leave Leeds Tidy collects goes towards a community free shop in the heart of the community they were collected from. This effort is to build a connection between the students, whose time in Hyde Park is often fleeting, and the permanent residents who call it their home. In teaming up with All Hallows church and the Rainbow Junktion Cafe in Hyde Park, a shop is set up where the diverse members of society can come together for a day of shopping and lunch. The lunch is provided by the Rainbow Junktion cafe and is pay as you feel, and the community free shop offers all its items for free, meaning money is not a barrier here.
The project is funded by Leeds City Council, and this year the council have set up their own collection initiative, ‘Moving Out?’, setting up multiple collection points in the city as well as delivering purple bags in which people can use to gather their unwanted items together. You can find Leave Leeds Tidy’s collections points on their website and leaflets that have distributed to over 21000 homes in Leeds.
While discussing our partnerships, it is worthy of mentioning the people who allow us to hold collection points on their premises; Hyde Park Picture House, St Michael’s Church, and Co-Op Food on Cardigan road. Each of these locations have opened up their doors to Leave Leeds Tidy, allowing us to use them as a point of call and storage for the duration of the project.
This year:
This year the project is running between 14th May up until 5th July, with free ice lollies, sweets and cupcakes being given out to those who donate. Information about our collection days can be found below. As well as our collection days, items can be donated at any time to the LUU building (downstairs opposite Santander), as well as at the Co-op Food on Cardigan Road. Items donated will go to St Vincent’s, the community free shop, as well as the Rainbow Junktion Cafe.
Keep your eyes out for our upcoming posts bringing you the stories direct from the community, as well as updates on how well the project is doing and the weird and wonderful items that have been donated.
