Who we are

Emmaus is about people, many of whom arrive at Emmaus at a very low point in their lives. People become homeless for many different reasons but relationship breakdown, bereavement, addiction or abuse have often played a part. In Emmaus, they find the space and support they need to start rebuilding their lives. You can read the stories of some of our Companions (as those who live and work in Emmaus Communities are called) below.

As well as Companions, many other people make up the Emmaus Movement in the UK.

• Our President, Royal Patron and Patrons, Terry Waite CBE, HRH The Duchess of Cornwall and a wide range of other high profile supporters act as Ambassadors for Emmaus, offering their valuable advice and helping to raise our profile.
• Emmaus staff in Communities, Groups and the Federation Office
• Our volunteers and trustees
• Our supporters

These people come from a wide variety of backgrounds and all bring different skills and experience to Emmaus. What brings the us together is our shared commitment to enabling those who have been homeless and excluded from society to rebuild their lives and help others. The central values of Emmaus, shared by the worldwide Movement, are set out in the Universal Manifesto of Emmaus, which you can download below.

Companions' stories

You can also read staff stories and volunteer stories

• Keith

  When I was young, my mum and dad were both out at work a fair bit, and I hung out a lot with the older kids on our estate. By the time I was 11, I was already drinking alcohol regularly in the evenings, and I’d started helping myself to money from my mum’s purse or my dad’s pockets to pay for it. I still went to school though, and… Read full story

• Tony

  When I was about nine or ten I started boarding school. I went with my brother, so it wasn’t too daunting, and then, when I switched to another school further away, I was with my second cousins so I knew what to expect. After I finished school I went back to the area where I grew up and started working for BOCM as a computer terminal operator in their animal… Read full story

• James (Greenwich)

  Emmaus is a new way of life that was created 50 years ago to show society that we have a new way of doing things. Emmaus is not really a charitable organization and it’s not just about homeless people, it’s a philosophy. Emmaus does not just take someone, give them a job and tell what their room number is. Emmaus is a stage of life for people who have lost… Read full story

• Martin

  I was born and bred in Cambridge. I finished school at 18, and we were sitting in the pub celebrating and chatting about what was next. Three of us decided to join up, and I spent the next six years in the Army on general duties. I travelled all over: the Falklands, Gibraltar, the Ascension Isles, but then my commission ended and I was suddenly home again, living with my… Read full story

• Paul

  I was in care from the age of two weeks. I never knew my parents or any details about them. Until I was sixteen, I was shuffled around between foster parents and kids homes. When the duty of care ended, I went off into the world completely unprepared for life. I had no idea how to live or look after myself. All I had was a basic survival instinct because… Read full story

• Geoff

  I have great memories of my dad, even though he died forty years ago now. He was employed as a sign writer, but what he really loved was decorating motorbikes. I remember he had these special horsehair brushes and he’d use gold and silver paint to create really beautiful designs. Unfortunately, sometimes the clients he worked for didn’t bother paying him for his time, and this caused trouble at home… Read full story

• Steve

  I have a very creative family. My dad and two of my brothers work as stonemasons. When I was born, I inherited my grandfather’s stone masonry tools, but I have always enjoyed art and so at 17, I went to the Glasgow School of Art. I joined in with the other students smoking dope, and soon I was dealing to my friends. I got asked to leave when they saw… Read full story

• Shane

  The thing I remember most clearly about my childhood was being left to get on with it. My parents split up when I was quite young, and I stayed with my dad and his new wife. When I was five, my younger step-sister was born. I was never really a bad lad, more I never quite lived up to my potential, and no-one really seemed to push me. I'd get… Read full story

• Mark (Greenwich)

  I’d heard about Emmaus in Poland. I’d heard the name but then I heard about it here when I phoned Emmaus on behalf of a friend who was also homeless. The whole idea of Emmaus, it’s mission statement, is wonderful but as everything man-made it is imperfect but we are trying to do our best. We are doing something positive, contributing. I care a lot about Emmaus. You don’t have… Read full story

• Simon

  It might sound funny when I say that I was born in Barnet Mental Hospital, but it’s true. It was just the closest hospital when my mum went into labour. I am a typical Libran, stuck in the middle of two brothers and two sisters. We pretty much brought ourselves up, as my mum wasn’t very hands on, and I didn’t meet my dad until I was 21. At 17,… Read full story

• Nelly

  I was born in Newcastle in the sixties, to a quite poor family. My dad worked away at sea so I didn’t get to see him a lot. When I was five he was killed in an accident at work, which left my mum struggling. She tried to commit suicide several times, which meant that my siblings and I were sent out to foster families. Unfortunately, I ended up staying… Read full story

• Hassan

  I grew up in Uganda. My family were pretty well off as my father was a member of the ruling party the National Resistance Movement (NRM). However, my dad grew disaffected with the violent practices carried out by the NRM leader, Museveni, and joined the opposition party, the Forum for Democratic Change (FDC). It didn’t take long before this was noticed, and my dad was shot and killed as was… Read full story

• Scott

  I had every opportunity to make something of myself when I was growing up. I went to private school, my parents offered to pay for driving lessons, I was supported when I decided to leave school at 16, but somehow I kept making wrong turns. My brother was offered the same chances and took them, but I decided I knew better. At 16, I started a YTS course to learn… Read full story

• Mark

  My childhood was OK, but when I was fifteen, my parents divorced. I had a new step mum and a new step dad and I did a lot of travelling between them. They would ask me questions about each other and I felt they were using me. It was around this time that I started missing days off school and sniffing glue and petrol. My Dad was a miner and… Read full story

• Danny

  My mum and dad broke up when I was thirteen and it hit me hard. My mum had an affair and I felt really lost and angry. I bounced between both of my parents, but neither of them could cope with me as I was bunking off school and getting into trouble with drugs. My mum took me to see a boarding school. She said I had a choice about… Read full story

• Kris

  The first part of my life was pretty ordinary. I lived with my mum and sister, went to school, hung about with my mates, the usual. I knew who my dad was, though we never really had any contact with him. I didn’t really do anything that anyone else didn’t do. I smoked weed but so did all my friends. I kept it a secret from my mum, though I’m… Read full story

• Steve

  I was at Emmaus Greenwich for five and a half years. Before that I had my own house where I lived with my partner. I became homeless after the relationship broke up. I lost my home and went to a night shelter in Watford. At the shelter they slung us out at eight in the morning and we couldn’t go back until seven at night. There was nothing to do… Read full story

• Karen Wilkinson

  Getting together with the wrong man in my teens was the start of all of my problems. My partner was abusive and controlling from the start, but we had a baby very soon after getting together, and another, two years later, so I stayed with him. He was extremely jealous and used to make me walk around staring at the floor so I wouldn’t look at other men. After we… Read full story

• Emma

  When I was seven, my mum and dad split up. I stayed with my dad until I was ten, and then moved to live with my mum and her new partner. Unfortunately, we didn’t get along at all, which caused a lot of problems. I reacted by turning to drugs, and by the time I was 16 I was already addicted to heroin. At that time, my mum moved to… Read full story

"My wife felt that drinking was overtaking my work and she blamed me for being laid off, whereas I felt that it was more of a ‘last in, first out’ kind of decision by the management."