By Andy Dalton
Old, used greetings cards can be put to good use in Armley.
Leeds City Mission, in Mistress Lane, is appealing for people to donate their old, used Christmas greetings cards rather than throwing them away.
Volunteers at the City Mission Compassion Centre in Armley hope to collect thousands of now-redundant cards after the Christmas season and reuse them. They can also use old greetings cards connected to other occasions such as birthdays and anniversaries.
Enthusiastic volunteers plan to take up their crimping scissors and craft individual gift tags from donated cards for use next Christmas.
Leeds City Mission has run this project for the last two years. In 2024 an incredible total o 3,854 greetings cards were donated by readers of the West Leeds Dispatch and other supporters. City Mission volunteers were able to create 7,978 gift tags. This exceeded their original target of 6,000 new tags.
The tags were distributed free of charge in the run up to Christmas to the delight of many recipients. These included a range of voluntary organisations who all received a batch to use with users of their activities and services.
The City Mission’s successful efforts have inspired them to repeat the project this year on a larger scale. The more cards they receive, the more they hope to produce for next Christmas. Their plan is to exceed this year’s total and produce 10,000 new gift tags to give away.
A spokesman for Leeds City Mission said: “This is a great opportunity to create something of worth out of waste. Please let us have your cards the next time you are shopping in Armley Town Street.”
Greetings Cards can be dropped off at the Mission Room – the base of Leeds City Mission which hosts its various compassion projects. This is the last public building at the end of Town Street and is diagonally opposite Armley Library.
Volunteers at the City Mission will gladly receive donations of no-longer-needed cards anytime between 10.30am to 2.30pm Mondays to Fridays (not Wednesday). Telephone 0113 345 3118 or e-mail lcm1837@gmail for more details.
Leeds City Mission is a multi-church Christian agency which has worked with marginalised people over three centuries since 1837 and seeks to meet the physical, social and spiritual needs of Leeds residents.
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