On June 4th & 5th 2022, Lifeshare joined people across England, and indeed the whole commonwealth to celebrate the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee. While street parties are a staple across the country, for those with no fixed address, rough sleepers, and sofa surfers, these times of community celebration can emphasise isolation. Lifeshare works with these people each week at our Weekend Breakfast Project serving hot, fresh breakfasts from 7-9 am in our Northern Quarter location at the Central Methodist Hall. We wanted to find a way to ensure that the people we support each week were included in the festivities in a safe, dry environment.
We began applying for funding, but with the number of applications for the nationwide celebrations, it was a challenge to fund the event our guests deserved. There was another avenue to explore, the fantastic supporters who have supported Lifeshare throughout the years. In partnership with Give Today who have been longtime partners, we appealed to our supporters to help fund our Jubilee Lunch. Our supporters came out in force, both in buying meals and in sharing the campaign with their networks to help spread the word about our plans. We hit our goal of 200 meals on June 3rd – just in time!
We opened at 7 am on June 4th with our usual hot breakfasts and continued each day with hot showers, games, care packs, and even a visit from a barber! The days were capped off by a Jubilee lunch of coronation chicken (or veg) with all the trimmings, along with a glass of non-alcoholic fizz, and a slice of the classic Victoria Sponge prepared by Lifeshare partners, Peacemeals. Over two days we handed out 38 pairs of socks, provided 14 showers, gave out 85 dental hygiene packs and sent out 103 takeaway meals along with the 195 hot meals served onsite. This was made possible by the generous donations of Lifeshare supporters and by the work of our volunteer team.
Volunteers were on site from 6 am each day to start cooking and stayed until 2 pm to clear up from lunches and prepare the site for the next day. It is through the support of dedicated volunteers that events like this are possible. If you’d like to volunteer with Lifeshare please click this link to fill out an interest form today. We would also like to thank our corporate partners AEW Architects for providing our Jubilee care packs.
