Scarborough Salvation Army hosts Freedom and Respect Day in Alma Square
People in Scarborough are being invited to get to know each other and find out more about the work of The Salvation Army as part of a Freedom and Respect Day event to be held in Alma Square.
The church and charity is partnering with North Yorkshire Police and North Yorkshire Council Community Safety Hub to host the event on Saturday 18 October as part of Hate Crime Awareness Week.
It will also highlight Anti-Slavery Day, a day dedicated to combating modern slavery and human trafficking, with The Salvation Army one of the organisations that provides specialist support to protect and care for survivors of modern slavery.
Church leaders Majors Ionel and Roxana Sandu, who joined Scarborough Salvation Army in July, are looking forward to meeting people and sharing with them what The Salvation Army does, not only within the town but it’s wider work on combating modern slavery.
Ionel and Roxana said: “We hope this event will help bring the neighbourhood together and encourage people to get to know each other, including us as the new leaders of The Salvation Army in Alma Parade just behind the square.
“It will be a day to unite, show respect and dignity to each other and provide a sense of hope about Alma Square, an area that has so much potential, but unfortunately has been affected by anti-social behaviour in recent months.
“We also want to highlight the importance of making a stand against modern slavery. Thousands of modern slavery victims are hidden in plain sight in towns and cities across the UK, trapped in exploitation and silenced by fear. We will have information on how to spot the signs and how to help people affected by this.
“We’ll be there between 10am and 2pm with plenty of tea and coffee, sweets and some freebies, so please do pop along and say hello. We’d love to see you.”
Scarborough Salvation Army runs a number of community activities from its church in Alma Parade including the Victory Programme cookery course, a sewing group, Kingdom Kids for children, an emergency food bank, Sunday worship and the Sunflower Café and hub to support Ukrainian refugees. It also runs a coffee shop on a Tuesday and Saturday. For more information visit https://www.salvationarmy.org.uk/scarborough
For more about The Salvation Army’s work in modern slavery visit https://www.salvationarmy.org.uk/modern-slavery/anti-slavery-day