Trustee and founder of Emmaus Coventry & Warwickshire, Tim Brooke, has received a special medal in recognition of his long-standing voluntary service to our charity.
Tim was a founding member of Emmaus Coventry & Warwickshire and played a leading role in our charity’s creation and growth within the city. We now support 17 formerly homeless people in Coventry.
To celebrate Tim’s outstanding voluntary service to Emmaus and the people we support, he has received an Emmaus UK 30th Anniversary Founders’ Medal.
Commenting on the medal, Tim said: “I was deeply touched to receive a Founders’ Medal when I was in fact just a small part of the team which got Emmaus Coventry & Warwickshire off the ground.”
Tim referenced the founder of the international Emmaus movement Abbé Pierre: “I very much want to say thank you, but always at the back of my mind is Abbé Pierre’s warning against thinking that the job is done. He constantly challenged the temptation to be complacent with the question: ‘What about others who are suffering?’ – in French the three simple words: ‘Et les autres?'”
Since 1992, Emmaus Coventry & Warwickshire has supported more than 1,000 formerly homeless people. Based in the Binley area of Coventry, our charity offers accommodation, support, training and meaningful work in a community setting.
Local resident Tim’s work began 28 years ago when the Coventry Council of Churches decided to do something to tackle growing homelessness in the area. Having witnessed the effectiveness of the Emmaus model years before whilst volunteering in France, he worked with them to gather like-minded volunteers and together they set up this charity: the second Emmaus in the UK.
2021 marks the 30th anniversary of Emmaus in the UK and there are now 29 Emmaus communities across the country.
Chair of Emmaus UK and Trustee of Emmaus Coventry & Warwickshire Susan Brooksbank-Taylor said: “Thanks to Tim’s work, Emmaus Coventry & Warwickshire offers people hope and security in a supportive community. There are many people who need help, who want to change their ways and their chances but get stuck or spiral into desperate situations. We provide support, training and a place to live, so they can start to turn their lives around.”