A special week night service with a free evening meal for vulnerable people in the Wakefield area is celebrating its first anniversary.
St Catherine's Church Centre has opened its doors for a service called Open Hands every Monday evening since January last year.
And attendance has almost trebled, said its vicar, Revd David Gerrard:
"We started with about 15 people and now we have some 40 people every week, which shows a huge need.
"The nature of the people that come means some are very regular, and others we see for a couple of weeks and then they return at other times.
"Very sadly, we lost two people due to drug overdoses during the year, but that illustrates some of the difficulties that we deal with," David said.
St Catherine's hosts Wakefield’s biggest food bank five days a week, as well as running projects to help the lonely, the isolated and those with mental health issues.
"Open Hands grew out of a desire to also meet the spiritual needs of people who use our food bank," said David, who is in his third year at St Catherine's and is pictured above with its Associate Priest, Kathy Robertson.
"We begin the service by sharing the peace, we sing, then we're working our way through St Mark's Gospel.
"We spend a period in prayer for each other, then there is a benediction, followed by food," David said.
Open Hands runs every Monday at 7pm in St Catherine's Church Centre, Doncaster Road, Wakefield, WF1 5HL. Any volunteers interested in helping or donating food for the meal, please get in touch with David or Kathy or Centre Manager Lisa at St Catherine's on 01924 211130
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