Terry Waite and the Mayor Open New Shop
Back in business after the Cowdray Centre fire, Emmaus Colchester opened its new charity furniture store on Monday 13th November. Terry Waite, former Beirut hostage and President of Emmaus UK, cut the ribbon with Colchester Mayor Richard Gower.
The shop serves 10,000 customers a year with second-hand furniture and other household items at low prices. It also supports homeless people in Colchester who are moving into new accommodation with free essential items that most people take for granted, like a bed, table and chairs and pots and pans to cook a meal.
Other local charities have benefited too such as the Soup Run with tables and flasks, the winter Night Shelter Overflow Project with sleeping bags.
At the same time, the shop raises funds towards building a new Emmaus Community in Colchester. The Community will offer a home with a job for single homeless people who want to make a change in their lives and put something back into society. Residents of the Community, called Companions, will do full-time work in the furniture store, collecting, restoring and selling donated furniture. They will not claim unemployment benefits and will pay for the upkeep of the Community with profits from the business. The goal is to become completely self-sufficient.
A planning application will be made this month to build an architect-designed property to house the Community in Magdalen Street, Colchester. The building is being developed in collaboration with Colchester Borough Council who are freeholders of the land, Genesis Housing Association to whom it is leased, and is funded by the Housing Corporation and fundraising efforts of Emmaus Colchester.
Lesley Corner, Project Director at Emmaus Colchester, says ‘We are thrilled to have found new premises and that Mr Waite opened them with the Mayor on Monday. He has experienced a form of homelessness himself as a hostage and identifies strongly with the feelings of isolation and helplessness felt by many people that Emmaus supports.’
The shop is open six days a week and based at 4a Arthur Street, Colchester, opposite Gala Bingo. Staff are on hand to accept donated furniture and speak to people interested in volunteering in the store and on the collection and delivery van. The number to phone is 01206 768887.
Published on 21st November, 2007
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