The organisation was formed at a meeting held on the 28 February 1878 in Leeds. Known as the Board of Guardians the object of the organisation was to provide a broad system of relief to those who needed it and in so doing stop the need for door to door begging and to encourage people to embark on earning an honest livelihood. The address for the organisation was Belgrave Street close to the central shopping district of Leeds. For many years the main function of The Board of Guardians was to hand out funds to the needy to prevent them from having to enter the workhouse. This help included railway tickets and food vouchers and the steady stream of needy soon became a flood in the mass immigration years that followed due to pogroms in Russia. The Board of Guardians occupied its offices next to the synagogue on Belgrave street for 50 years before moving to Brunswick Place in 1930. It remained there until moving to Stonegate Road on the site of the current premises, the Marjorie and Arnold Ziff Community Centre which was opened in 2005. For those who know Leeds Jewish Welfare Board as it exists today with over 100 professional staff, and many hundreds of volunteers across dozens of management committees it is a far cry from the initial days when The Board of Guardians had no professional staff and relied only on volunteers and potential clients putting themselves in front of the ‘panel’ to stake their claim for welfare and support.