ISSUE 06
INSIDE THIS ISSUE
Community Newsletter Autumn 2013
Royal Visit to Paris
Companion Mary Rigg accompanied the Duchess of Cornwall on her first solo official engagement abroad on 27-28
May.
The Duchess, royal patron of the homelessness charity
since 2006, visited Emmaus Communities in France to see
where the movement first started. Mary, along with Rob
Haines from Coventry and Scott Alvey from Cambridge,
went with her on Eurostar from London to look at the differences and similarities in how Communities work in France,
and what lessons could be learned from their experiences.
“The Duchess was really friendly and approachable. She
looks much younger in real life than in photos and on TV.
She told us how worried she was about having to make a
speech in French because she hadn’t had to speak it since
she was 16,” said Mary, who talked to her about Sussex because the Duchess was brought up in Lewes. I don’t really
know how she sounded, but the French Companions said it
was pretty good.”
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ROYAL VISIT
WHITE GOODS
NEW LIFT JASON’S PROMOTION
SPRING CLEAN
GREEN FINGERS OUR SUPPORTERS
OPEN DAY
LEE MOLINEAU
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“It was absolutely amazing, it was so tidy,” Mary said.
“There are different rooms dedicated to different products.
If white goods no longer work, they’re stripped for parts,
and there were three rooms just full of bikes. There was
even a room for jigsaw puzzles with a volunteer to count
the pieces. They fill entire containers with goods to send to
Emmaus overseas.”
Emmaus was founded in France in 1949 by Abbé Pierre, a
Catholic priest, politician and member of the French resistance, who was working to help people living on the streets
of post-war Paris. Bougival, which now houses some 70
people, was set up as one of the earliest Emmaus communities, established to handle the donations that threatened to
overwhelm the Gare d’Orsay following an appeal by Abbé
Pierre in the winter of 1954.
As the Duchess’s first solo trip abroad, the visit attracted
a lot of media coverage, which meant welcome publicity
for the Emmaus Movement. “When we arrived at the Gare
du Nord there were cars waiting outside. We had a police
escort, so we were dashing through the traffic, through the
red lights.”
The Duchess and her party visited the Emmaus Community at Bougival, to the west of Paris, and the Duchess then
opened the nearby Chatou recycling facility, run by 12 livein Companions and 150 volunteers.
Another trip to France for our Community followed on 16
June, when Deputy Community Leader Jason and Companions Ronnie and Mary went to the Paris Salon with a
vanload of goodies for sale. The Salon is a massive annual
sale organised by Emmaus France to raise money for Emmaus projects in developing countries. Solidarity, as it’s
known, is a key principle of Emmaus – the idea that however needy you are, you can always help others. The Hastings trio manned a joint stall with Brighton and Winchester,
and though it was the smallest of the three UK stalls at the
Salon, it raised €3,200.
In October a small group of Companions will go to Rouen to
celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Community there. 
Bargain
White
Goods
We’re buying in refurbished washing machines, fridges, freezers, dryers and electric cookers from an
ethically sound white goods refurbishment company. Our aim is to be
a one-stop shop for people in need
moving into unfurnished accommodation and while we have plenty
of donated furniture, good quality
white goods are quite rare.
Promotion for Jason
Jason Bell, who was the first Companion to move into our brand new accommodation block back in June 2011, has been appointed as Deputy Community
Leader, to take responsibility for the shop. This will enable our existing Deputy,
Dave Westhead to concentrate on Companion welfare and development as the
Community grows.
Jason joined us from Emmaus Gloucester to help us develop a new Community
for Hastings and Rother, and has worked tirelessly in the shop and on the van
since then, as well as supporting new Companions. His priorities now include
adjusting to his new role as a staff member rather than a Companion, passing his
driving test, and learning Portuguese.
A lot of people who come to us with
household goods vouchers from
support agencies need a cooker
or a fridge, so it’s helping us meet
a need, as well as offering them at
competitive prices to the general
public. We’re on the suppliers list
for the Discretionary East Sussex
Support Scheme, which replaced
the Community Care Grant system
from 1 April 2013. This helps people
leaving care, prison or temporary
supported housing who need help
setting up a home, or people on
benefits who have suffered some
sort of domestic crisis and need to
replace basic household goods.
New Lift
We now have a lift to the second
floor of the shop, enabling disabled
access and making it much easier to
move bulky items. This was paid for
out of £50,000 of business development funding won last year from
the Santander Enterprise Development Awards, along with a proper
phone system, enabling calls to be
routed quickly to the right part of
our growing organisation.
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Spring Clean
A major clearout of our main shop and warehouse building has resulted in more
shop space. Masterminded by Deputy Community Leader Jason Bell and Mark
Cameron, former manager of WH Smith in Hastings, who has been advising us
on how to improve shop sales, the spring clean saw Companions and volunteers
give up their day off to turn out and sort some of the clutter that has built up
since the shop first opened in October 2009. A sunny day meant stock could be
sorted outdoors, which made the job a lot easier.
Takings are rising as word gets round of the bargains and treasures available,
with shop sales this summer averaging around £3,000 a week, comfortably
ahead of last year’s levels. The second van, on loan from Emmaus Coventry,
has helped by giving us more capacity for collections and deliveries, and as the
Community grows we also benefit from more staff to collect, sort and restore
donated items. We’re about to order the prefabricated units for the final phase
of the accommodation block, which will add another eight bedrooms, bringing
us up to our full capacity of 23. We aim to open this next spring.
On 28 June, Mary and Mikee manned a stall in Hastings’ Priory Meadow shopping centre, publicising our shop and our house clearance service.
Green Fingers
One of our newest Companions is a landscape gardener, bringing a set of skills we badly need. Tommy
has been with Emmaus for seven years on and off
after suffering family problems. Before his move to
Hastings he was helping to set up ‘The Greenhouse’
gardening and plant sales project at Emmaus Brighton & Hove.
At Hastings, his first task has been to make a clothes
drying area outside the accommodation block to reduce our use of electric tumble driers. Waste brick
paving that was removed when the accommodation block was built has been re-used to create a firm
surface. “This was all nettles when I started and I’ve
cleared it and levelled it,” he says. He now has plans
to landscape the grass and trees at the edge of our
site, which provide a welcome shady barrier between
us and the Sussex Waste Depot next door. “You could
put in a path and a rockery. As you come down the
road you’d really notice it,” he says.
The plants for the planters, donated by Orbit Housing Group to improve the look of the accommodation
block, have grown up and look fantastic. With their
help, Whitworth Road is starting to look much less
like a former warehouse site and more like a home.
Mark Cameron and Companion Ronnie working on the big clean up!
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Our Supporters
We are extremely grateful to the wide range of people and organisations who have given, or continued to give us donations and help over the past few months. In no particular order our thanks go to:
ƒƒSainsbury’s, Sedlescombe Road
ƒƒSantander UK
ƒƒCRASH
ƒƒSt Helen’s Church
ƒƒPeter Jones - Trade Paints
ƒƒMary Scanlon Smith
ƒƒMrs A Pink
ƒƒRambler Coaches
ƒƒMargaret Guye
ƒƒChristopher Maxwell-Stewart
ƒƒMrs H Seal
ƒƒDW Highwood
ƒƒMrs Linda Elliot
ƒƒD Omrod
ƒƒAllsorts Singers
ƒƒThe Quaker Housing Trust
ƒƒHendy Van Hire
ƒƒTen:05 Rental
We would also like to thank the many anonymous donors who have
contributed either via www.localgiving.com or who have put their loose
change in one of our collection boxes.
Open Day!
Emmaus Hastings & Rother is holding an open day at our Whitworth Road
site on Wednesday 16 October, as part of the annual Hastings Week. The
shop will be open, we’ll be serving refreshments and we’re inviting members of the public, as well as the various social care agencies and charities
we work with, to come along and see what we’re about. We will also be
celebrating the official launch of our cafe, serving teas, coffees and light
snacks. Shop takings for the day will be donated to Emmaus International
to fund projects overseas - we look forward to seeing you! 
Lee Molineau
We are very sad to say that one of
our former Companions, Lee Molineau, was assaulted on the street in
Eastbourne in July and later died in
hospital from his injuries - a tragic
reminder of the risks of living on
the streets and of the benefits that
Emmaus can bring to people who
are able to adapt to life with us. Lee
was a popular member of the Community, who after leaving Emmaus
spent a short while in sheltered accommodation before going back to
the streets. Our thoughts are with
his friends and family. 
Emmaus Hastings & Rother
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