Over the past couple of years, I've had the opportunity to cover meaningful stories in the community around me. From exploring what life was like for a theatre group-turned-food bank delivering food parcels during the pandemic, to working with local period charities to create a much-needed campaign. 

Follow the links at the bottom of each feature to view the article. All were creating with, and are hosted on, Shorthand.

Slung Low, a theatre group based in Holbeck, South Leeds, transformed itself into a foodbank practically over night when the pandemic hit. 

"Rather than sitting at home and closing our doors, we decided to stay active and do something good for the surrounding community," Alan Lane, the group's artistic director said when asked about the decision to start supplying food parcels to LS14. What started as a small handful of handouts quickly turned into 200 as more people were financially hit by Covid. 

Read about their story here.

In the last ten years, funding to youth services in the UK has been cut by 70%, according to The Guardian. In Seacroft, Leeds, one of the UK's most deprived areas, this type of funding it critical for the next generation. 

Chapel FM, a community arts centre working from Seacroft Methodist Church, has combatted this problem over the past couple of decades. Offering a multitude of different services to all age groups, Chapel FM has quickly become a pivotal organisation in East Leeds.

Read about their journey here.

According to Plan International, nearly half of the girls and young women in the UK are embarrassed by their period. A natural bodily function. In addition to that, they say that a quarter of girls in the UK say they were unprepared for their first period. Collectively, we do not speak enough about menstruation. 

The #GetBloodyTalking campaign was created in an attempt to start that conversation.

You can read about it here.