My name’s Stewart and I’m originally from Warrington. I moved to Southport, lived and worked there for five years, and then moved to Maghull with my partner. Unfortunately that relationship broke down and I found myself homeless.
I lived on the streets for six weeks which wasn’t a very nice thing. I’ve never been used to anything like that and it was quite scary. Eventually someone mentioned a half-way house so I went in there with my little trolley – as you do. I filled out their form but because I wasn’t from that borough I needed to be referred on. I went from one night shelter to another and finally found a place to stay at night.
I stayed at this shelter for four weeks, the maximum term anyone can stay there. Luckily enough, just before my time was up, I found out about Emmaus Merseyside. I got a call from the Support Worker at Emmaus, joined the community in April 2017 and the rest is history. Joining a new community was a bit weird at first but I’m laid back and fit in with anybody so it was fine really.
Developing all the time
At Emmaus I’ve really enjoyed helping all the others, working in the shops and helping in whichever way I can. In the past few years I’ve been driving the vans, delivering items and collecting donations, helping in the shops, doing PAT testing and any other odd jobs that come my way. I just love the lifestyle here and love what I’m doing for the charity.
In terms of training, I’ve done my first aid, fire marshal, catering, food hygiene and customer service training and I’m keen to do anything else that comes up. More recently I’ve gained a lot more knowledge and experience doing eBay. With the national lockdowns and shops being forced, we’ve had to make the most of what we’ve got a make as much money as we can through online retail.
When we started selling items on eBay a few years ago, I helped out a bit as it was something that interested me and had done it in the past. Since lockdown and staff being furloughed, I’ve started doing all the eBay and it’s like second nature to me now. I’m always looking for stuff to sell and hoping for that little gold-mine that’ll make us a fortune. I enjoy checking out and researching different items, and it makes every day really exciting.
At the moment I’m splitting myself between listing items on eBay, posting stuff out and delivering furniture sold on Marketplace.
Looking to the future
As a community we’ve had our ups and downs but it’s a nice feeling at the moment. This year I hope that all the shops can reopen, everyone can meet up with each other and be happy again.
In future I’d love to develop within Emmaus and get a job working in one of the shops or do a support work role to help others. I’m looking at getting on some training related to this.
So far, it’s been a really enjoyable experience here. I was quite outgoing anyway when I first moved into Emmaus but I’m even more outgoing now. I’m just living the dream here at the moment – I love it.
To everybody who supports Emmaus, please make sure you carry on donating and shopping with us when you can. Emmaus gives opportunities to people who are in the same situation as I was. Some people don’t want to be helped but if we can help them in any way then we will.