Leeds charity St Vincent’s Centre issues urgent appeal for warm clothing after refugees arrive in flip flops

Last year, a local hotel manager approached St Vincent’s Centre and said the charity was their last resort. The manager had tried other venues, looking for clothing and other items for the young men who had just arrived but had no luck.

The charity turned to its local community to help with donations. Fundraising manager Lorna Gray said: “We were overwhelmed with the amount of responses we had. People came with multiple pairs of shoes, trousers and coats for the young men.”

Since then, the centre has established a good relationship with the asylum seekers and the hotel. Lorna said: “It’s just so rewarding and lovely to have built this relationship. This hotel manager came to us out of complete desperation and now we provide a weekly service teaching the young men English.”

This year, another local hotel approached the centre to request clothing and supplies. The centre is asking for as many donations of warm clothing as possible, including hats, scarves, socks, coats, jackets, long trousers, trainers and boots, which people can drop off at the centre, off York Road.

Lorna said: “As it gets colder this winter, the young men will have very limited wool clothing and we want to help as much as possible by giving them more weather appropriate clothing. A lot of people aren’t aware of just how little these people have when they are housed in these hotels.

"There’s a lot of misconceptions about how much they are given – in terms of money and clothing – and there are a lot of misconceptions about them in the media. We are trying to dispel these misconceptions by telling people that they have very little.”

With the current cost of living crisis and Christmas approaching, Lorna said she feels like people have different priorities at the moment. She said: “We haven’t had any donations come through the door yet. It’s not at the forefront of their minds to help others but I am sure donations will come.”