Every day, Leeds Jewish Welfare Board is positively changing the lives of hundreds of members of our community living with anxiety, depression, social isolation and fear, amplified by a backdrop of rising antisemitism, online hostility and uncertainty about the future.

This year we are asking for you to purchase “minutes”, to allow us to continue to fund our 4 dedicated mental health support workers, each of whom supports an ever-growing caseload of community members in need.

LJWB receives no statutory funding for our community support services and is entirely reliant on the generosity of our community to ensure there is always someone to pick up the phone.

We currently employ 10 support workers, who work with people of all ages across our community - families needing support, older people dealing with increasing frailty or memory loss, sensory needs, learning disabilities – many of whom also experience challenges with their mood and mental health. As well as daily activities at the MAZCC to reduce social isolation, we offer bespoke therapeutic groups for memory loss and social support and 1-2-1 support for over 187 individuals.

Mental health services have faced greater statutory cuts than social care and the NHS, meaning ever-increasing waiting lists and a lack of crisis support, leaving our team to pick up more and more of the most complex and urgent cases. Back in 2019, we experienced 1 person in crisis every 5 weeks, today in 2024 it is 5 people in crisis every single week. Without LJWB, they would have nowhere else to turn.

The demand continues to escalate, but your ongoing generosity means that we can continue to help people immediately, with no waiting list, for as long as it takes.

Whether you are from Leeds, have friends or family in Leeds or feel passionate about improving the mental well-being of our community, please give all you can to ensure we can continue to tackle the escalating mental health problems affecting so many of us at this most challenging of times.

Leeds Jewish Welfare Board remains the only Jewish social care charity in Leeds

• For almost 150 years, we have delivered community support and registered care services to over 1,000 people per week
• 65% of all new referrals to LJWB need mental health support, and the need continues to grow
• Families from all over the world reach out to us to support their loved ones who live in Leeds

 What your donation will pay for

• £25 pays for an initial assessment
• £60 pays for a regular weekly support package for one client
• £240 pays for a day’s support from one of our four mental health workers
• £1,125 pays for a week of cross-agency intensive support when someone is in crisis 

We are so grateful to our generous match funders, who, in recognition of the scale of the problem, will double any donation you make! Please dig deep, donate whatever you can, 100% of your donation will go directly to supporting people struggling with their mental health.

We have until midnight on Tuesday 2nd July to make this happen – thank you from all of those who benefit from your generous support.