A WOMAN has backed a York collection for a food bank and a homeless charity by donating all the points on her Nectar card - nearly £70 worth.

Members of York's Liberal Jewish community have spent today, Mitzvah Day - the Jewish day of volunteering when around 40,000 Jews across Britain and the world give something back to the communities within which they live - collecting items at Sainsbury's store at Foss Bank for Ryedale Foodbank and York homeless charity Carecent.

Social Action Coordinator Tina Anderson said:“Each year we collect at the York Sainsbury’s and each year I am blown away by people’s generosity.

"One person offered us the points from her nectar card and when we went to spend them on her behalf we found there was nearly  £70-worth!” 

Meanwhile, student rabbi Gabriel Webber has spoken of the support York's Liberal Jewish community is receiving in the wake of the shooting of 11 Jews at a synagogue in Pittsburgh.

He referred to the worst antisemitic attack in American history at a Shabbat morning service held yesterday at the Friends Meeting House, Friargate, as part of National Interfaith Week.

The service was attended by about 100 people, including York Central MP Rachael Maskell and the Lord Mayor of York, Cllr Keith Orrell and representatives of many of the city's faith communities.

The service included a reading from the community’s hand-written Torah scroll (the Five Books of Moses, which was rescued from the Holocaust by Prague’s Jewish Community, later destroyed by the Nazis.

Lilian Coulson, vice- chair, said of the service: "“It is one of the highlights of our year, the opportunity to share our faith with our friends and neighbours and provide a space for reflection and prayer whatever anyone’s beliefs.”