Happy New Year from all of us at Emmaus SLC! We hope you had a good time celebrating the new year with family and friends.
We have decided to reflect on 2023 and how it was such a good year for us.
Celebrating 10 years of StreetLink:
Our Partnerships Manager Ross was invited to the House of Lords to celebrate 10 years of StreetLink. Active since 2012, StreetLink is a fantastic service which allows concerned members of the public to report people rough sleeping who need help and will contact local support services who will provide further assistance.
Mahesh writes an article for the Pavement:
Mahesh, one of our Companions, penned his own article for The Pavement talking about his personal experience with healthcare support for people struggling with homelessness and how he thinks it can be improved.
Celebrating International Women’s Day at The Spires Centre:
Members of Emmaus SLC visited fellow homelessness charity The Spires Centre who were hosting an event for International Women’s Day.
We set up a fundraiser on Aviva with the aim of raising £2,000 for our Companions to enrol on external courses to expand their skillset. We successfully passed our goal!
The annual summer BBQ was held at our Croydon community. The food was kindly purchased and prepared by our trustees. It was another fantastic social event for Emmaus SLC staff, trustees, companions and friends.
In September we hosted our Solidarity Events for 2023.Our events were the Coffee & Cake sale and the Spinathon. We successfully reached our goal of £2,500! This money will be split between Street Storage and the Emmaus Europe Ukraine Fund.
Delegates from Emmaus SLC attended the Emmaus UK Assembly 2024 in Leicestershire. They had a great time partaking in workshops and discussions and listening to inspiring speeches.
Clothing donation to RE/SISTERS:
We donated 10 bags worth of preloved clothing which were used for an art project in the ‘RE/SISTERS: A Lens on Gender and Ecology’ exhibition at the Barbican centre.
Solar panels at our Croydon community:
After a few delays we were finally able to install solar panels on our 363 community in Croydon. This is a step towards moving to a more eco-friendly approach in our communities.
We have officially launched our ‘Sift Before You Gift’ (SBYG) campaign. The purpose of SBYG is to discourage people from donating undesirable items to us and raise awareness as to why they should not. This is an ongoing project that we will carry into 2024.
Thank you to everyone who supported Emmaus SLC during 2023. Whether it was donating to our Solidarity Events or simply purchasing items from one of our shops, your support goes a long way and is greatly appreciated. We are very excited for 2024 and look forward to seeing you there!