Hampshire homelessness charity celebrates 15 years of service

A charity that supports and rebuilds the lives of homeless people held a service at Winchester Cathedral reflecting on their successes over the years.

On Friday, October 18, the charity’s service was attended by 250 guests who packed the Cathedral Quire to witness the event.

The service was led by The Reverend Canon Roland Riem, Vice-Dean and Canon Chancellor.

The guests also included MP Danny Chambers, Cllr Russell Gordon-Smith the mayor of Winchester and Deputy Lord Lieutenant of Hampshire, Surgeon Rear Admiral Lionel Jarvis.

Readings, reminiscences and videos highlighted the work Emmaus Hampshire had done including projects devised by the former homeless residents known as Companions and providing more secure jobs and independent living.

Alison Thompson MBE, the founder of Emmaus Hampshire spoke at the service.

“It is a joy to be here,” she said.

“To thank so many of you here, for helping us to reach this milestone in our development.

“Some of you here know a great deal about Emmaus, [and] some of you know very little.”

The charity also states on its website it is: “The unique solution to homelessness, and delivers significant environmental, sustainable and social impact.

“We don’t just give people a bed for a night, our community provides a stable home, individual support and life-changing opportunities to enable people to break the cycle of homelessness.

“Sometimes, luck doesn’t go your way, or life throws you a run of difficult challenges.

“You may suffer a bereavement, a relationship breakup, lose your job or be evicted from your home.”

Nigel Samuels, chief executive of Emmaus Hampshire said: “We are a homeless charity that helps people get back into work, we provide accommodation for up to 40 companions at one time, and they work in our social enterprise which is responsible for selling recycled furniture in three stores across the county and the income they generate helps us run their community.

“We have five companions here today who have all moved on to independent living.

“They all have full-time jobs with salaries over £30,000, all have accommodation, and we think that’s the real success.”

Mr Samuels also highlighted the charity’s work towards licensing out a carbon calculator it had developed.

“We save household items from the waste chain and in doing so, prevent more than 350,000 tonnes of carbon being released into the atmosphere each year,” he said.

Mr Samuels also added when being asked about the future of Emmaus: “We hope to grow our retail stores to generate more income, that will allow us to support more people.

“We also will be building a well-being centre in our garden, that will allow us to help support more people with dedicated counselling and support.”

A short pop-up catwalk by personal stylist Sarah Sullivan also saw some of the companions showcasing recycled clothing in collaboration with Emmaus.

For more information on the charity, visit the Emmaus Hampshire website.