Volunteering in 2020
Since launching on 8th December 2017 the Angels of Freedom activities have continued to grow, providing ever increasing opportunities for volunteers to get involved in a number of safety and support initiatives led by our teams.
Our Angel volunteers enable us to deliver a range of events, participate in consultations and support our LGBT+ communities in Leeds and we’re always looking for more people to get involved and support these - even if you can only spare a couple of hours a month.
The easiest way to support all of our work is from following our social media accounts to increase our reach and liking, sharing or retweeting the information we share.
Friday Street Engagement: Every Friday evening from 7pm until 11pm we have a team in the Lower Briggate/Call Lane areas providing visible reassurance to those in the area, promoting social & support groups in Leeds and on street emotional support and advice. Our volunteers meet in a central location from 6.15pm.
No previous knowledge or experience required, a briefing for new volunteers is provided before starting the evening.
Leeds First Friday: In addition to the street engagement, on the 1st Friday of the month we also host an information stall from 6pm until 10pm in the Cosmopolitan Hotel for the Leeds First Friday (LFF) social event. LFF is reputed to be the largest regular Trans social event in the UK, bringing over 200 guests from all over the country to Leeds.
The stall is staffed by our regular Friday evening volunteers and supported by Hate Crime Coordinators from West Yorkshire Police, along with the Leeds team from British Transport Police.
LGBT+ Coffee & Cake Cafe: Our volunteers run this LGBT+ community social space every month (excluding January), hosted in the Priestley Hall of Mill Hill Chapel, 1st Tuesday of the month from 6.30pm til 8.30pm.
Whether you're coming along to help, or just to enjoy the coffee & cake we always welcome more people along to join the conversations on the evening.
Hate Crime Review group: Our coordinator is the independent chair of this group, working in partnership with West Yorkshire Police to lead a ‘critical friend’ function to review their actions in response to reported cases of LGBT+ Hate Crime in Leeds. Through this partnership we aim to identify positive handling of reports, check & challenge inappropriate or insufficient actions and fully understand the impact of Hate Crime on our communities.
These sessions are held every 8 weeks (3rd Feb 2020 onwards), 6pm until 8pm in Leeds City Centre. Pre registration is required to attend.
Leeds Freedom Families: Having launched in February 2019 the Leeds Freedom
Families group provides a focused group for parents (guardians, close family/friends) with children of any age who identify as LGBT+. Through a monthly social drop in the group aims to bring people together to use their experience to provide peer support, network with others of shared experiences and identify how they can be champions for their LGBT+ family members.
Volunteering for this group is restricted to those who have this personal experience to enable them to utilise it in supporting others.
More information is available on the Leeds Freedom Families section of our website.
Pride/Sparkle Friendly Trains: Over the summer months we work with our partners in British Transport Police to be visible on designated train services returning to Leeds from a number of regional Pride events (and the Manchester Sparkle Ball evening), to provide safety reassurance to those returning home from their Pride celebrations.
Through all of these activities there are also ad-hoc opportunities to support, through one off events, activity stalls and engagement/consultation with other agencies.
If you’re interested in getting involved please get in touch: info@angelsoffreedom.org.uk
