A HOMELESS shelter kitchen has been saved from closure under crippling funding cuts following an appeal by the Oxford Mail.

O’Hanlon House, the city’s best known haven for those in need, was bombarded with requests from more than 300 people after staff announced it might have to close its counter unless volunteers came forward.

The service, which provides up to 100 meals a day and is open every day of the week for the city’s rough sleepers, is struggling to balance the books after Oxfordshire County Council cut £1.5m for housing support from its budget.

After the Mail was invited to see how volunteers run the kitchen in Luther Street, 50 people are now whipping up tasty meals in the shelter’s scullery and 40 more are giving up their free time in other ways.

Volunteer coordinator Helen Wright said she had been “inundated” with emails and was “overwhelmed” by the support. Thanking the paper for its help, she said: “It’s incredible how many people want to help.

“We are still getting people coming forward which is brilliant. The response we got from the Oxford Mail article was amazing.

“Everything is going really well and we now have more volunteers than we could have wished for, so the kitchen will be running as usual.”

The county council agreed at its budget meeting on Tuesday to cut its housing related support by 65 per cent – about £1.5m.

It comes after the local authority slashed the service’s same budget from £3.85m to £2.34m in 2014.

Experts have warned the funding cuts could lead to the end of all homeless services in Oxford, with protestors saying more people will end up “sleeping on the streets, in prison, or worse”.

O’Hanlon House staff are trained to help residents with complex mental health issues, drug and alcohol addictions.

The kitchen is one of the few services which can be run effectively by volunteers.

New volunteer Jess Turner signed up after the shelter put out its appeal.

The 23-year-old account executive, who lives in Cowley Road, added: “When I moved over here from Sydney I wanted to get involved in volunteering. Homelessness is such a global issue, but when you come to Oxford, because it’s quite a nice place you don’t realise that a lot of people need help.

“Volunteering is a good way to give something back to the community.”