We narrowly missed being crowned Reuse Organisation of the Year by just 34 votes!
We were one of six organisations shorlisted for this prestigious award by the Reuse Network, the UK’s only membership body dedicated to charitable and voluntary reuse organisations like us.
The final choice went to a public online vote through the Reuse Network’s website and we received 284 votes but were pipped to the winning spot by Nu Life Furniture who received 318 votes.
Voting closed on Wednesday 30th August and the winner was announced at an awards ceremony during the Reuse Network’s Gala Dinner last month.
Emmaus Village Carlton Trustee, Dean Bourke said: “It was disappointing that we came so close to winning but we want to thank all our supporters who voted for us and also extend our warm congratulations to Nu Life Furniture for winning this award.
“Just to be shortlisted for The Reuse Organisation of the Year award demonstrated our commitment to sustainable social enterprise and the enormous strides we’ve made over the past year to reusing and recycling donated items for the benefit of our community.
“We pride ourselves on our commitment to reusing and recycling as much as possible, reselling tonnes of donated items and recycling large quantities of metal and wood, which is no mean feat and something we are enormously proud of.”
Our greatest success story has been in textiles and books; in the last year (July 22 to June 23) we sent over 160 tonnes of textiles and books to recycling or resell providers. This is a significant increase on previous years which has been made possible thanks to our staff, companions and volunteers all buying into the ethos behind it.
Not only does this produce much-needed revenue for our charity, to help us provide brighter futures for people affected by homelessness, but it’s ethically important to protect our environment and reduce our carbon footprint.