News & Views

Emmaus Hampshire – Community Update

Dear Supporter

Firstly, may I thank each and every one of you who has been in contact over the last 4 months to establish how our Companions have been fairing, during these extraordinary times of crisis.

I am pleased to say that all our Companions (ex-homeless people) are safe, secure and still living as one family unit in the community without incident to-date.

This pandemic has tested our resolve, our inventiveness and our resilience.  I would like to pay tribute to three groups of special people – our Companions, supporters and management team.  Throughout the crisis, the entire Emmaus community has continued to thrive thanks to your combined efforts.

Let me first praise the Companions, who have shown real maturity and responsibility towards their fellow Companions and have taken COVID-19 extremely seriously.

The Companions’ compassion for the 7 members of our organisation who have been required to shield has been exceptional and those who have been in isolation have received wonderful room service!

They have now switched their efforts from working hard with the maintenance of the community into the planning for how they operate in the so called “New Normal” World.  But more of that later……

Soon, we will start integrating new Companions into Emmaus House and the recently completed Project 40@20 rooms.  This wing of the house is to be named the Lupton Rooms, in recognition of Lord and Lady Lupton who have donated over 10% of all donations over the last 10 years.  Whilst we appreciate enormously every single donation, I am sure you will agree that their remarkable generosity is worthy of special recognition.

The Official Opening of the new rooms by Lord and Lady Lupton will now take place in 2021, an event which we shall all look forward too.

Over the last 4 months, we have been reminded once again how fortunate we are to have you as our supporters.  Quite simply, without you we would have struggled both financially and emotionally to cope with everything the pandemic has thrown at us.

We thank you from the bottom of our hearts for your generosity, which helped us raise every penny that we have lost due to our retail store closures.  There are not many organisations who find themselves in the same financial shape as when COVID-19 started.

We know that this position can change very quickly with the continuation of COVID-19, but we believe, until the winter period, both the Companions and our organisation are in safe hands. The security of everyone is – THANKS to YOU.

I would also like to pay a special mention to the management team whose leadership and dedication in support of the Companions’ health and wellbeing has been exceptional.  Their commitment to our Companions has never faltered: neither in the early stages, when we lacked PPE and safety guidance, nor in recent weeks when you might have expected fatigue to set in.

We are truly blessed to have such a dedicated team whose value to this organisation is frankly priceless and therefore greater than any remuneration this sector can afford.

Looking forward, we are now planning to re-open our stores at the end of this month having taken a very cautious approach to-date.

The Companions are united and ready to meet and greet the public once again. They are determined to make their own contribution to the funding of our community whilst valuing their own self- worth.

Like other retailers, we will have a number of restrictions on what we can sell and how we achieve this, but, after detailed planning, we feel very well prepared for our stores to re-open, with our Winchester store first on July 28th.

This will be followed by Eastleigh and Southampton opening at the start of August. Initially, we will be open for sales only.  Unfortunately, we will not be able to accept donated goods until a later date to be determined.

We very much look forward to seeing you in our stores and welcome your feedback on our approach which has safety as its number one priority for all.

Once again may we thank you for your generosity.  We are so grateful and would not be where we are today without you.

With best wishes from the whole Emmaus Hampshire community.

Nigel

Nigel J Samuels – CEO-Emmaus Hampshire