Established in 2012, the InTouch Foundation is a registered charity and a community based effort to address the plight of homeless people on the streets of Yorkshire. Our purpose is to bring attention to their plight and provide an organisation where volunteers can become directly involved in the preparation and feeding of the less fortunate that exist on the edge of our society.
As a non-profit organisation, we accept charitable donations and use them to deliver hot meals and emotional support directly to those on the streets and those living in poverty - wherever the need is greatest.
We have mobile kitchens in Bradford, Keighley, and Leeds, which serve hot food and drinks to homeless people and those living in poverty, as well as overseas projects supporting South Asian families in organising marriages to alleviate societal pressures and helping Ghanian families living in poverty to become financially independent. Our community projects involve street clean-ups and tree planting, as well as community fundraising.
Find out more about the history, purpose, and impact of the InTouch Foundation from our staff and volunteers in the video below:
In the video, our founder Osman Gondal says:
"The idea basically started one morning, we do like a Fajr walk and talk program where we walk to the Masjid, our Fajr time. We had a group of lads together who don't normally go to Fajr and we just walked and talked about different subjects and topics. It just happened that that day the weather had just changed - it was very cold that morning and we started talking about people that were out sleeping on the streets and those that are homeless and those that are on the poverty line. It takes about 45 minutes walking to the Masjid so in that time obviously you can cover quite a lot and talk quite a lot. By the time we reached the Masjid the decision was made that we were gonna do something where we provide some type of service for the homeless. That was on the 31st October, I then started working with numerous people - friends and family - talking to them, trying to raise money to actually go to the Masjid to say, well, "Can we do something like this?". Unfortunately, they wouldn't pay. So the idea was rather than people come to the food, why don't we bring the food to them? So I went out, spoke to numerous organisations and found out where the majority of the homeless hang out and this was the area. So around the 31st December, we then decided and launched on the 31st December."
Mohammad Shabbir, the Chair of the InTouch Foundation, says:
"'InTouch With Those in Need' is the full title of the organisation, and the InTouch Foundation at the moment is providing food for the homeless or those in need, and we do that through the provision of our trailer where people have donated food or money towards purchasing some food."
Osman Gondal on what the InTouch Foundation means to him:
"When I see somebody smile - one of the guys said to me last week, he said "well why do you do this?". I said "have you enjoyed the meal?", he said "yes", I said "are you smiling?", he said "yes" - that's more than enough for me, that's what I'm doing it for. And when I see the volunteers all coming together, people from different backgrounds, when they are working together trying to achieve the same results and there's a great atmosphere, again it works perfectly for me."
A volunteer at one of our mobile kitchens says:
"I think this is a very, very good service. I don't think there's a lot of people around doing this service. If if wasn't for the InTouch Foundation. homeless people wouldn't have food. Nobody in these streets would have food, so it'd be really hard for them."
Our kitchens have a score of
5 from the Food Standards Agency
