Essentials
Essentials is LUU’s basic needs hub, created for students experiencing financial difficulties.
We provide:
- Emergency food assistance
- Free breakfast during exam periods
- Personal items
- Signposting to support services (including wellbeing and financial literacy)
What happens when you visit Essentials?
If you’re visiting Essentials for basic needs support, you may sometimes find a queue at the desk. Our staff are here to make everyone feel welcome, included and respected, and we understand that asking for support can feel sensitive.
That’s why we’ll take the time to have an individual conversation with you, understand what you need and work out how we can best support you.
Moving or leaving Leeds? Donate to essentials!
We welcome donations that can help students make the most of their time at Leeds. This includes ambient food, kitchen supplies, bedding and homeware/decor.
For food donations, we prefer items that don’t need to be refrigerated. However, if you have surplus food that you don’t want to go to waste, please get in touch. We’ll be happy to see if we can accept it.
- Canned food items
- Condiments
- Noodles
- Long-life milk
- Rice
- Oil
- Pasta
- Oats
- Lentil
- Sugar
- Seasoning
- Flour
- Sanitary Products
Volunteering
COMING SOON: Volunteering opportunities within Essentials will be shared over the academic year.
We offer volunteering opportunities and you can get a certificate with your service hours.
There will be 3 tiers of certification:
Bronze – 50 hrs
Silver – 100 hrs
Gold – 200 hrs
There will be a prize and a certificate for each level reached.
We also want to say a big thank you to our current volunteers. You’ve all done a great job for Essentials and we appreciate your service with us. Well done!
Visit Essentials!
Opening Hours: 11am – 3pm | Monday – Friday
Find us in the LUU building, on the Balcony above Refectory!
If you are struggling, you can access support from the LUU Advice team. The team can provide advice, offer support, and help connect you with other appropriate services where needed.
NOTICE: OUT OF TERM HOURS
From Monday 29 June onwards, Essentials will be open 11am-2pm on Thursdays and Fridays.
Operating on these days allows us to continue accepting and managing our regular FareShare deliveries.
Please note that there will occasionally be Thursdays or Fridays when the service needs to close, including Friday 26 June.
We will update the LUU website and social media channels to reflect these changes.