A GROUNDBREAKING partnership formed by two charities is helping the needy and boosting the environment.

The link-up between an InTouch Foundation project – which helps the vulnerable in Keighley – and an organisation committed to preserving and improving the Yorkshire Dales, has already reaped huge benefits.

And further initiatives are in the pipeline.

Project Ayaana was set-up by the InTouch Foundation to promote community cohesion and inspire people to make a difference.

To mark its first anniversary, the Leave Your Legacy campaign was launched in partnership with the Yorkshire Dales Millennium Trust (YDMT).

Through public donations, £540 was raised and split equally between a woodland planting project in the heart of the Dales and a mobile kitchen which serves homeless and other needy people in Keighley and Bradford every week.

The Keighley kitchen is in the town centre on Wednesdays, from 6.30pm to 8pm.

As part of the co-working, staff from the YDMT joined regular InTouch Foundation volunteers at one of the sessions to help serve-up free hot food and drinks on the streets.

Leah Cardus, YDMT fundraiser, said: "The InTouch Foundation mobile kitchen supports some of those most in need across Yorkshire and it is an honour to be able to play a small part in supporting this vital service.

"Through this partnership, we have also planted more than 100 young native trees over the last year in a new woodland in Bishopdale, helping to create a living legacy in the Dales that future generations can enjoy and which will grow to support a range of wildlife."

Project Ayaana has also run a series of other successful ventures during the past year, including street and graveyard clean-ups, the distribution of over 2,000 water bottles during Ramadan and the giving of presents to children who spent Eid in hospital.

Faisal Tariq, InTouch Foundation fundraising manager and founder of Project Ayaana, said: "The project was set-up to inspire the local community to make positive changes through the use of social action.

"The plant-a-tree campaign is a huge success as it allows people to leave a legacy.

"It's been an honour working with the Yorkshire Dales Millennium Trust, which is making a positive contribution to our future and allowing people to be part of that.

"This was the first of many exciting projects in partnership with YDMT."

For more details about the trust, visit ydmt.org.

Further information about Project Ayaana can be found at facebook.com/ProjectAyaana.