we are about to open!
The building is complete! On 25th February the contractors left the site and the keys were handed over to us by our partners A2Dominion. Final preparations, such as hanging curtains, stocking the larder and making up beds are taking place, ready for our first Companions moving in around 16th March. We are also moving the contents of our office from the house, 169 Oxford Road, into the new building: we won't know ourselves! That makes our address 171 Oxford Road - same postcode. The other good news is that our Deputy Community Leader, Andy Bache, started work today: he may not have realised the job included carrying heavy desks, but he hasn't complained yet!
we have a Marathon runner!
Emmaus Oxford is delighted to tell you that we have a competitor in this year's London Marathon on 26th April. Douglas Graham, a second year student at the University of Edinburgh, has very kindly decided to support Emmaus Oxford in this way. Douglas, whose family home is just outside Oxford, told us, "Emmaus, a charity to help the homeless, was brought to my attention by my mother, who is a volunteer for Emmaus Oxford. Their adage 'giving homeless people a bed ... and a reason to get out of it' makes it an extremely worthwhile cause, which I am proud to be running for. I have pledged to raise £2,000 which I believe is a substantial yet achievable target. Donations can be made online via www.justgiving.com/douglasgraham. I am hugely looking forward to the event and am training hard, with the aim of finishing in under 3hours 20minutes". We are enormously grateful to Douglas for his support - and to all who choose to sponsor him,either online as above or directly to Emmaus Oxford (more information to follow, or please contact us meantime).
opening soon!
The building is coming along really well and is now fully visible from the Oxford Road. The hoardings put up in March 2008 were removed before the Christmas break and the front entrance steps are being constructed. Internal fitting out has been taking place for some time now and painting is well under way. We expect to receive the completed building by the end of February and to welcome our first Companions (as Emmaus residents are known) in March.
We will soon begin buying the huge volume of goods needed to turn an empty building into a habitable and welcoming home. We have had a fantastic response so far to our 'setting up home' appeal: many thanks indeed to all who have kindly sent donations, in particular to the anonymous benefactor who has offered to match all monies (up to £50,000) raised by our fundraising initiatives. If you have not seen a copy of our recent newsletter, with news of this appeal, of our Secondhand Superstore and more, please click here to download it.
14th January
appointments
Our Community Leader, Steve James, has completed his three-month training programme - which included residential spells in Emmaus Communities in this country and in France - so has been in the office with us for a while. When the building opens we will be moving our office from the semi-detached house, 169 Oxford Road, into the new community building next door, 171 Oxford Road.
Our new Deputy Community Leader has been appointed: more details will follow.
14th February
rebranded Secondhand Superstore now open extra hours!
We're delighted to announce that from 1st October, four months after Emmaus Oxford took over the furniture store, the opening hours have been extended. The Secondhand Superstore is now open to welcome customers from 9.30am - 3.30pm, Monday - Friday (rather than just three hours each morning)! We hope to be able to improve on this still further. Also, the phone lines will be open for six hours a day instead of three, which should facilitate making collection arrangements for the goods that people are kindly donating.
The Secondhand Superstore is now much easier to spot and find your way around, with smart new signs both outside and inside the building. Strategic areas of Emmaus green paint render the interior bright and cheerful, too! To read more about the Secondhand Superstore, click on the furniture store page.
1st October
a new Furniture Store for Emmaus Oxford
From 1st June 2008, we own and run a furniture store! This is another huge landmark on the road to opening our Community. Please see the furniture store page for details.
1st June 2008
the Great Leap Forward
For Emmaus Oxford, it's not just Friday February 29th that has made 2008 a Leap Year! This is the year that we are watching our long-awaited community building rise from our plot of land at 171 Oxford Road, Cowley. Indeed, during the week leading up to 29th, the bulldozer was already hard at work!
Emmaus Oxford has entered into partnership with Dominion Housing Group to provide accommodation for up to 24 formerly homeless people - our Emmaus Companions. In summary, it works like this. Dominion's involvement has attracted major government funding (from the Housing Corporation and CLG - Communities and Local Government). Dominion are managing the build. Completion is scheduled for early 2009, at which point ex-homeless people will begin to move in. We will have full responsibility for running the community in accordance with Emmaus principles and ethos. (To read more about the Emmaus movement in general, please see the 'about emmaus' page.)
By the time contracts were exchanged with Dominion, lengthy and detailed discussions had taken place over the previous year, with arrangements already in place for the contractors to come on site straightaway. It's a really exciting time for us in the office here, as we watch so many people's dreams, and hard work over several years, bear fruit! We'll show progress photos on this site, so do visit from time to time to see how things are coming along.
Although it is wonderful that the capital costs of the building are covered, we are aware that we still need to raise substantial funds to support our fledging community during the early years. Eventually it should become self-supporting: the Companions will work hard in a furniture recycling business to help this happen. We hope soon to let you have news of this side of the project, our social enterprise, too.
15th March 2008