Support SEVA lunch club

Oblong Leeds is a busy thriving community centre in the heart of Woodhouse. Each month we host over a thousand members of the public, in order to bring peace, opportunities, and a sense of belonging to the community.

We feed roundabout 120 stomachs a week in our SEVA Community Cafe. Run by volunteers, SEVA derives from the Hindi word meaning ‘acts of service’. Ironically that’s exactly what it represents. The cafe’s purpose is to gel the community, giving locals from different walks of life the opportunity to interact and dine together comfortably over restaurant quality food.

The generosity of our volunteers is central to what we do. If you visit Oblong, you’ve most likely been welcomed by our volunteer receptionist, gone to a cooking class that’s run by a volunteer group leader, or learned English from a teacher who’s a volunteer.

That’s not all: dozens of people a year come to Headspace, a popular peer mental health support group where participants support each other, and learn skills to take care of their own mental health.

Oblong took over the running of Woodhouse Community Centre in 2011, taking an old Methodist church building, and transitioning it into a thriving centre hub for the local community. Local volunteers run groups and activities, such as Thriving Together, where they run exercise and cooking classes, Mindful Men and Film Club groups, and many more.

SEVA is run by volunteers, and we are able to offer PWYF and free dinners because of their skills and generosity. However, as helpful as our volunteers are, their vital support does not exclude Oblong from our financial reality, such as the provision of ingredients, supplies and keeping the lights running.

Skilled centre chefs succeed in turning ‘intercepted’ food from ‘FareShare’ into delicious three course dinners. This pro sustainability approach is ‘topped up’ with tins of chickpeas and big bags of lentils from a local wholesaler and, during harvest season, herbs from our little kitchen garden.

Due to its innovative nature, SEVA Lunch Club increases in popularity each week. The funding we receive from the Household Support Fund and other places isn’t nearly enough to keep up with SEVA’s demand. Every week the Lunch Club feeds over 100 people. Just imagine roughly how much each dinner costs, especially during the current economic crisis.

It is our intention to accommodate every soul who visits SEVA, which entails having enough utensils, Ingredients, beverages, heating and making sure we have enough chairs for people to dine. Due to the vast number of visitors we receive each week, our chairs deteriorate quite frequently. Amongst other expenses, replacing them is becoming a weekly inconvenience, and is chipping away at our resources.

Your donations, no matter the size, will assist us in continuing this wonderful cafe initiative for the foreseeable future, bringing a sense of community and enjoyment back to Woodhouse again.