Generous Asda shoppers who donated more than £400 to the Open Hands Food Bank (https://mychoice.leicester.gov.uk/Services/3192/Open-Hands-Food-Stor) in Leicester have fed 30 families for a week, Novus Rotary members were told.
Charity manager Bethany Corbett visited the Rotary Club meeting at Elizabeth Park, Thurmaston, to thank members for holding the collection over the first weekend of March.
She explained how the charity had grown from a lady offering food from the boot of a car and had then moved from a former motor garage in Highfields to a large operations centre in St Matthews linked to what is now One Church Leicester and now has 10 employees and about 90 volunteers working in several areas including
+ Food Bank
+ Clothes Bank
+ Furniture donation and restoration
+ Emergency aid
+ Crisis response
+ English language courses
+ Pie Nights
+ Coffee shop
Bethany said that the types of people helped by Open Hands were just as diverse. including
* Street sleepers
* Families struggling through the economic crisis
* Refugees and asylum seekers
* People overcoming addictions to drink or drugs
* Former sex workers changing their lives
* Abused mothers fleeing to women’s refuges
Bethany said she came to Leicester to study geography at Leicester University. After graduating, she volunteered with Open Hands a decade ago. Her energetic enthusiasm clearly impressed her audience of volunteers, particularly when she spoke about the opportunities to help run the Food Bank, the Pie Nights and the English classes.
The scale of the charity’s operations surprised Rotary members. It has had 100,000 visits and for seven years has had a coffee shop 6 Degrees, at 108 London Road, Leicester. The charity’s accounts can be found here https://register-of-charities.charitycommission.gov.uk/charity-search/-/charity-details/4033608/charity-overview
But it was personal stories of individuals helped by Open Hands which moved Rotary members to say they hoped to work closely with Open Hands in the future.
They expressed their thanks to Bethany for giving such an interesting and detailed talk about Open Hands. They also expressed regret that Shaheen Memon, from Asda, Abbey Lane, who invited Novus to collect there, was unable to be at the meeting. They hope to have her attend a meeting of the club before too long so they can thank her, face to face, for making this donation possible.
If you want to help Novus Rotary help Open Hands — or other local groups — please click on the Contact Us tab at the top of this page. We’d love to hear from you.
Last edited: 12:24 on Monday, 17/04/2023
