The Archbishop of Birmingham, Bernard Longley, handed out soup and sandwiches to the homeless at a soup kitchen in the city centre at the weekend. Archbishop Longley was joining volunteers from the poverty charity St Vincent de Paul Society (SVP) at the Birmingham City Centre Soup Kitchen, which helps between 70 and 140 people in need every night. The soup kitchen is supported by SVP twice a month.
Archbishop Longley said he was grateful for the chance to help. “I was very struck by the large number of people who came looking for help and by the wide range of needs that brought them there,” he said. “The presence of these men and women night by night highlights the scandal of poverty in the heart of Birmingham and the responsibility that we all have not only to alleviate but to seek to prevent it.”
St Bede’s Middle School, one of four parish schools which assist the initiative, has volunteered to make the 300 sandwiches needed for each Soup Kitchen for the coming months.