A SOUP kitchen which is desperately seeking funds to move into new premises in Bradford city centre needs public votes in a competition to secure thousands of pounds.

The Welcome Project is hoping to win a community fund competition being run by Aviva, which will secure the £15,000 it needs for toilets and showers in its new home.

The project has until the end of this month to gain as much support as possible before a short-list is drawn up and winners are announced later in the year.

The soup kitchen had worked out of rundown St Mary's Church, in Barkerend Road, for years until the dilapidated state of the building forced it to leave. Rain had been pouring through the roof and the electrics in the kitchen blew up, leaving volunteers to cook by torchlight.

Leeds Roman Catholic Diocese, which is now trying to sell St Mary's, is looking at making the old school building at St Patrick's Church, off Westgate, available. Building surveys have been carried out.

Eileen Armstrong, from The Welcome Project, said she had every faith that the people of Bradford would not let them down.

"I have every faith that the people of Bradford will support us by voting for us. Every vote counts and we need as many as we can get. The deadline is May 30 so time is restrictive."

The project, run by volunteers and totally reliant on donations, is temporarily using St Clement's, further out of the city centre up Barkerend Road. The number of people it helps has fallen to about 35 from 70. It also had to end its clothes and furniture service because there was no storage room.

"We need to get back into the city centre as quickly as we can. St Clement's has been good to us but we need a place of our own. We've got just under 2,000 votes so far and there are more than 3,000 other projects bidding," said Mrs Armstrong.

She added: "We offer hot food, clothes, and a sympathetic ear. We do not ask their race or religion, in fact we don't ask anything except what would you like to eat and how many sugars? We do not judge our guests and welcome them all with a smile and a shoulder to cry on."

The project also works closely with other organisations to help find shelter and work for people who come to be fed by them.

St Patrick's is a listed-building and needs lots of work, Mrs Armstrong said the Diocese said it would pay the £40,000 needed to remove asbestos that had been found but the project had been told it would need £15,000 to pay for toilets and showers.

"It is hard to explain just how valuable our service is. We deal with the homeless, the addicted, the poor, people with mental health problems and we have even had students with debts eating with us. We hope Bradford will help us to help them," she added.

To give your vote, go to aviva.co.uk/community-fund and search St Mary's Welcome.