Emmaus Brighton & Hove: working together to end homelessness

Emmaus provides homeless men and women with a home and full time work in a safe and supportive community for 48 companions. One of my ambitions was to actively get involved with helping the Emmaus community, particularly the companions. As part of the university’s staff volunteering programme, I’ve been able to contribute to the introduction of wireless internet technology throughout the building and also forming a social book club which continues to be a challenge in terms of engagement.

Developing student engagement

I was particularly keen on developing a partnership between the University of Brighton and Emmaus focusing around student engagement. I meet with staff from the ‘Active Student Volunteering Service’ at the University who provided great help and advice around student and staff volunteering opportunities and procedures. We collectively met with the Chief Executive of Emmaus and were able to formulate two exciting projects involving students from the University.

The first project focused around recycling unwanted clothes and other goods from University halls of residences at the end of the academic year. The University’s environmental group and Emmaus worked together and at the end of the summer 2013 were able to recycle some 750 bags of clothes and 80 beds from an old accommodation building. Emmaus were able to reuse, recycle and sell most of the items, thus supporting the Emmaus community. Two of the lessons learned related to logistics and collecting a large amount of suitable material.

Research project

The second project involved research into the social side of life in the Community and was conducted by one of our University’s MA students - Bruno De Oliveira - who volunteered for the project.

Bruno produced a detailed report which he presented to the Emmaus board of trustees and explained the findings. Bruno was also able to interview a number of companions on a one to one basis anonymously, which resulted in honest and open feedback from the report. The findings were taken on board by the trustees and influenced the content of Emmaus’ 5 year strategic plan which was being formulated at the time.

As a regular visitor to the Emmaus community I’ve been fortunate to meet and get to know many of the companions and often receive positive feedback which makes volunteering worthwhile and enjoyable. If, as a volunteer, I can make a small contribution to improving the wellbeing of people who may have lived on the streets for many years then the effort is worth it.

Graham Davis works for Information Services as an IT Manager and has been a trustee at Emmaus Brighton & Hove for 18 months.

http://www.emmausbrighton.co.uk/