In the biggest Leeds Mitzvah Day operation, over 200 volunteers turned up to care, cook and collect.

There were coffee mornings, befriending sessions, knitting for the elderly, help for asylum seekers, collecting and boxing up essentials for the underprivileged and raising money for emergency aid to victims of the Philippines typhoon.

“It’s not just about making volunteers feel good,” said organiser Sara Saunders. “It’s about transferring that feeling to someone else. In a couple of days we received permission from the council to cover the city and collect for the Philippines disaster.”

There was also a collection for Jewish Women’s Aid’s London refuge. And as for Habonim-Dror, the youth movement’s members said it with flowers, creating floral arrangements for Donisthorpe Hall residential home.

Bread was made in both the Jewish and Muslim traditions at an event at the Hamara Centre in the suburb of Beeston.

“It’s been wonderful to link all these causes together and stamp them ‘with love from Leeds Jewish community’,” Ms Saunders added.

Leeds Jewish Representative Council’s Keith Ackerman highlighted the interfaith aspect of the day. “The food Jewish volunteers collected for asylum seekers and the elderly was distributed through churches and mosques.”
West Yorkshire High Sheriff Virginia Lloyd thanked the volunteers for their “time, energy and commitment”.