2010: a year in the life of Emmaus Preston
Open again
We re-opened in January, following building work at The Birches. Experienced Companions and Trustees from round the Emmaus Federation worked together to help us be ready to take our first new Companions.
In March, Emmaus UK President, Terry Waite officially opened our fabulous new shop in Friargate. The Mayor of Preston, our Companions, trustees, staff and supporters packed the shop to hear Terry speak passionately about the difference that Emmaus makes to people's lives and see Terry and Sara, one of our founding Companions, cut the ceremonial ribbon.
Companion training
Karl, Sara and Peter received their certificates for completing a Red Cross First Aid course in April.
And to prove that a qualification isn't just a piece of paper, when one Companion spiked his hand badly on a metal fence, his mate knew exactly what to do protect the injury until getting to A and E.
Working together with other Emmaus Communities
July saw us on the road to Emmaus Cambridge where we met up with friends from 11 other Emmaus Communities for the first ever UK Solidarity Sale. The sun shone (most of the time) and the sale raised over £9,000 for Emmaus International projects. The Emmaus Federation Assembly at the end of the month was another chance for us to catch up with friends, take part in workshops, be inspired by visiting speakers and hear the updates from all the other Emmaus Communities and Groups. We were so proud to be able to stand up in front of over 200 people and tell them how well we were doing. Harry enjoyed the darts tournament too!
Sale at Emmaus Cambridge
Getting to know our neighbours
We've worked hard to support neighbourhood projects and get involved with our local community. We've shared organic fruit and veg from our allotment and herb garden with our neighbours, helped a local school with their garden and cleaned up our local alleyways alongside volunteers from Ribble Valley Church. In November, we were thrilled to hear that this last project had won the 'Green Community' category at the Lancashire Green Awards!
Cleaning up the local alleys
We often welcome local people and community workers to our home at The Birches for meetings. One local resident who's lived around here for 29 years, talked about the initial reservations of some local people when they first heard that Emmaus was moving into The Birches, but then went on to say that there'd been no trouble and to thank us for what we're doing to help improve the neighbourhood.
A very special day at Preston Minster
Richard and Sara Brooks were part of the Companion team who helped with everything leading up to our re-opening in January. In September Richard and Sara renewed their wedding vows at Preston Minster.
The Community turned out in force to support them and to witness the ceremony. Emmaus Preston trustee Father Timothy Lipscomb, pictured above, officiated.
Looking forward
We have big plans for 2011:
We want to increase the number of Companions who live and work with us, but will need to expand our business to be able to support a full Community financially. To that end, we're actively seeking a new site for our warehouse closer to The Birches where we can open a superstore.
We'll be going for more awards - our next aim is for the silver Preston Business Eco-Excellence Award, and we'll be looking at additional opportunitie like the Lancashire Business View Red Rose Award and the Furniture Reuse Network award.
Keep up to date with our plans: Read Emmaus Preston news here and sign up to get news to your email inbox.