Community Foundation Spotlight
Dine is a hospitality business with over 20 years of experience and is also a member of Leeds Community Foundation.
Kieran Grieves, group sales & marketing manager sat down with TheBusinessDesk.com to talk about what community issues are important to the business as well as its involvement with the Community Foundation.
He explained that for Dine “social value is massive”. He added that its roots in Yorkshire and particularly in and around Leeds, the local community has always been close to the heart of the business because “it’s the community that we rely on to support us as our clients & customers”.
Grieves like many of the members of the Community Foundation also highlighted the importance of opportunities for all and the challenges faced by deprived areas of Leeds.
“Leeds is a fantastic city and the people of Leeds are some of the most passionate in the country but unemployment and a lack of opportunities specifically for the children of Leeds mean that life is often harder than it should be for a great many of people.
“It is great that we have such a supportive network in the area to address this and the work that Leeds Community Foundation do is fantastic but more is always needed and we understand that.”
Like many businesses the pandemic shaped Dines’s view of the community needs around them with Grieves stating: “We spent time in the local community where as before we would have travelled outside of the city and this meant that we had the chance to be reminded of what a great city this is in a lot of places, but also that there are huge areas for improvement.
“Some of the communities closest to us were hit hardest and so it is good to be in a position to be able to help.”
Commenting on the work of the Community Foundation Grieves encouraged everyone to “just do it, make the jump and help” adding that it can be very easy to ignore the pockets of poverty in the city and tell yourselves that it’s someone else’s issue but he said, “the truth is the Yorkshire way is to help each other.”
Leeds Community Foundation creates opportunities for all by working with partners to make a positive impact within communities across Leeds and Bradford. We do this by generating and investing philanthropic giving as well as maximising statutory funding to deliver grants and provide trusted expertise into Community Organisations, benefitting thousands of local people.
