Emmaus Suffolk is an independent local charity and a member of a national Federation. The objectives of the charity is the alleviation and relief of poverty, hardship and distress arising therefrom, in conformance with the principles of the Emmaus Movement by offering meaningful activity for homeless, socially isolated and long term unemployed people (beneficiaries) as appropriate, along with the provision of education, training (including, and without limitation, employment training) and work opportunities and satisfaction for the beneficiaries with the purpose of developing their skills to enable them to gain employment in the future and a sense of self worth and dignity through having a self supporting life.
In the Emmaus Movement the beneficiaries are known as Companions. Through
offering volunteering roles within our social enterprise we will be providing business
opportunities and experience to give people the chance to rebuild their lives in a
supportive enduring environment with related tasks through a work framework. We enable people to move from emergency or vulnerable housing provision towards independent living. The overarching aim is to become a self-sustaining business and service provider. Through providing meaningful occupation Emmaus creates a means of gaining experience, training and transferable skills and also self respect and personal empowerment for the companions. At the same time providing choice and access to good quality furniture and household goods for both low income families and the wider community.
Emmaus Suffolk has strategically positioned Community drop in Hubs in Ipswich and Felixstowe over 7 venues. These Hubs offer free creative, meaningful activities in a safe environment as a gateway for vulnerable people to re-engage with their local community. The Hubs support individuals mental health and social isolation. The Emmaus model also benefits from offering social enterprises within its services. We have five social enterprises currently. 3 shops in Ipswich one in the North West of Ipswich, one in Sailmakers Shopping centre in the town centre and our newest venture in the North East of Ipswich which is also a Community Cafe. We also have 1 shop in Felixstowe.
A key principle of our not-for-profit business is that it supports volunteer Companions who are socially isolated, homeless or who have experienced long term unemployment. Ipswich has generational worklessness that is entrenched in the more deprived areas of Ipswich. We employed an experienced leadership team who oversees the business but 50% of our staff roles have been recruited from the beneficiary group. The shops sell donated household and clothing items. Donations are collected / dropped off at the shop and then put for sale in the retail premises and also on-line. The Community Café offers a range of fresh cooked food at affordable prices from 10- 3 Wednesday to Saturday.
Through the running of these social enterprise we provide volunteers with valuable work experience to fit their skill set. Companions participate at all levels of the business and within their capabilities, including donation collection, sorting, repair, up-cycling to customer service, kitchen, cafe and retail experience.
We target the neighbourhoods in the East of Suffolk that consistently figure as high areas of deprivation and poverty, to both recruit volunteers and to create a customer base for good quality, fairly priced second hand furniture and goods.
