St Patrick’s Soup Kitchen

In January a group of young people from Streetbeat Youth Project volunteered in St Patrick’s Soup Kitchen as part of their Social Action Project. St Patrick’s Soup kitchen is based in Belfast city centre and provides a service to the homeless community by offering food, clothing and amenities. They also have a dedicated outreach team who provide food parcels and essential utilities within the local area. They not only provide these services the Charity also provide support for the elderly and vulnerable members of the community.

The young people who volunteered are part of Streetbeat’s Breakthrough programme which involves facilitating workshops around issues affecting young people within their local communities, developing positive relationships with young people and providing a safe space for them to avail of. This is an ongoing project that looks at five key elements in order to enhance the young peoples’ personal social development, good relations, citizenship, one to one support and creative interventions.

During this volunteering experience the young people got involved in different elements of the St Patrick’s Soup Kitchen’s services. This involved packaging hygiene parcels, serving hot drinks and meals and also distributing clothing to those in need. The young people who got involved in this opportunity found it emotional but also rewarding enabling them to give back to the community.

Streetbeat Youth Project is based on the Woodvale Road and runs various programmes including personal development groups on issues affecting young people, counselling, mentoring, weekly drop-ins and issue-based programmes in several of the local schools. If anyone is interested in getting involved, please contact them at www.streetbeatyouthproject.com