Former Beirut hostage Terry Waite today dug the first foundations for a project giving homeless people in Oxford somewhere to live and work.
And today, after a decade of planning, Mr Waite - Emmaus's UK president - turned the first turf for a centre in Oxford Road, Cowley, which will eventually house 24 people and provide them with community-based work at a furniture recycling store in Marston.
Mr Waite, held for five years in Lebanon, said: "I was fortunate in the years of my captivity that I had a lot to fall back on. I had a store of memories and a stable family life to go back to.
"Many people who are homeless on the streets haven't had so many advantages.
"I have learned over the years how very easy it is for anyone to slip down and fall out of mainstream society."
He added: "What Emmaus provides is a structure that enables people to get back into life."
Emmaus provides both a safe and secure address and a job for homeless people.
The Oxford centre is set to take a year to build and is likely to welcome its first former homeless people in autumn next year.
It will be owned by Dominion Housing Group, which has paid £400,000 towards the construction of the centre and will rent it to the charity.
A further £1.4m has come from the Housing Corporation, and a further £600,000 from the Community and Local Government funds.
Mrs Williams, who has become a trustee for the charity, said: "For too long we have asked people to support a concept, now with Terry Waite arriving to dig the first foundations, we have the tangible icons of Emmaus Oxford's first community.
"We are all very happy because we have been waiting a long time. I am looking forward to when we can take in our first residents to a comfortable home and give them a chance to work and make a meaningful contribution to society."
William Alden, the chairman of the trustees, added: "This is the culmination of years of hard work."
Ultimately, the work carried out by the 'companions', as the residents of the centre will be known, will fund the project but a further £500,000 is needed to equip the home and furniture store.
Emmaus communities were first established in France in the 1950s to create places where residents live and work together, collecting and reselling donated furniture and household goods.
The first in the UK opened in Cambridge in 1992, and there are now 13 communities across the UK, along with a number of other projects in development.
It is a worldwide, non-religious social enterprise movement and there are 400 Emmaus communities in 39 countries.
8:53pm Tuesday 25th March 2008
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CommentPosted by: Mr Ison, England on 9:22pm Tue 25 Mar 08
Thanks to deliberate attacks upon our nation one person per sixty people is a new labour pole.
We see the damage those people have done to this nation and the question can only be why do they hate us so?
What makes a person so desise another they swamp the land with immigrants?
Why do and did the competent authorities not crush those fifth columnists?
Why has Mr Waite got to help people who by rights should never have become displaced in the first place?
Thanks to deliberate attacks upon our nation one person per sixty people is a new labour pole.
We see the damage those people have done to this nation and the question can only be why do they hate us so?
What makes a person so desise another they swamp the land with immigrants?
Why do and did the competent authorities not crush those fifth columnists?
Why has Mr Waite got to help people who by rights should never have become displaced in the first place?
Posted by: Terry Waite, Suffolk on 9:27am Wed 26 Mar 08
I fail to follow your line of thinking Mr Irson.Emmaus is for people who for a whole variety of reasons have found themselves without a home and without a job.They come from all walks of life and the vast majority are British born. How you can say that they should never have become displaced in the first place when each case is so different beats me. Any humnanb being can faced misfortune in life and when they do it is important that there is someone or something to assist them back into mainstream life. That is what Emmaus does.Regardless of nationality we are all members of one human family.
I fail to follow your line of thinking Mr Irson.Emmaus is for people who for a whole variety of reasons have found themselves without a home and without a job.They come from all walks of life and the vast majority are British born. How you can say that they should never have become displaced in the first place when each case is so different beats me. Any humnanb being can faced misfortune in life and when they do it is important that there is someone or something to assist them back into mainstream life. That is what Emmaus does.Regardless of nationality we are all members of one human family.
Posted by: Mr Ison, England on 3:07pm Wed 26 Mar 08
I know better,it's a place to stash prisoners so they dont appear in the press as dead homeless found in the street.
After a stay the prisoners cant wait to leave and then they go back to prison.
Often they go back to prison for failing to appear to their parol officer because they have not the money to actually travel.
Or else they cannot get to court and are fined and cannot pay the fine as the councils wont house them or even pay social security.
It's a system of legal abuse the Emmais is a part of,it keeps the whole swindle ticking over without dead ex-prisoners appearing regularly in the papers and causing public scrutiny of the legal and penal professions shenanigans.
I know better,it's a place to stash prisoners so they dont appear in the press as dead homeless found in the street.
After a stay the prisoners cant wait to leave and then they go back to prison.
Often they go back to prison for failing to appear to their parol officer because they have not the money to actually travel.
Or else they cannot get to court and are fined and cannot pay the fine as the councils wont house them or even pay social security.
It's a system of legal abuse the Emmais is a part of,it keeps the whole swindle ticking over without dead ex-prisoners appearing regularly in the papers and causing public scrutiny of the legal and penal professions shenanigans.
Posted by: Terry Waite, Suffolk on 3:17pm Wed 26 Mar 08
Your remarks are so sweeping and unreasonable that I don't think I can discuss with you further Mr Irson. However, thank you for giving me an opportunity to explain a little about Emmaus.
Best wishes,
TW
Your remarks are so sweeping and unreasonable that I don't think I can discuss with you further Mr Irson. However, thank you for giving me an opportunity to explain a little about Emmaus.
Best wishes,
TW
Posted by: Mr Ison, England on 3:31pm Wed 26 Mar 08
There is another ploy by those who's claws are stuck in those who have already paid their debt to society.
The ex prisoner through some unlikely twist of chance has an effective parol officer who manages to secure housing,after two years struggling on the straight and narrow the ex prisoner finds himself whisked back to prison on some ancient misdemeanor charge because an activist judge wanted to make a political statement in the local rag.
Thus the home is lost not only to the victim of judicial harrasment but also the homeless lodgers who the council dont want to house oreven help in any way.
Meanwhile the Government is busy importing millions those who have no ties to this country let alone the area.
There is another ploy by those who's claws are stuck in those who have already paid their debt to society.
The ex prisoner through some unlikely twist of chance has an effective parol officer who manages to secure housing,after two years struggling on the straight and narrow the ex prisoner finds himself whisked back to prison on some ancient misdemeanor charge because an activist judge wanted to make a political statement in the local rag.
Thus the home is lost not only to the victim of judicial harrasment but also the homeless lodgers who the council dont want to house oreven help in any way.
Meanwhile the Government is busy importing millions those who have no ties to this country let alone the area.
Posted by: Mr Ison, England on 3:38pm Wed 26 Mar 08
I can only speculate that Mr Waite is too close to the problem and his beliefs prevent him from seeing how he fronts a small part of a lucrative a confidence trick.
Ask how many have been sent to jail for shoplifting to pay a court fine and you would be aghat.
You spent some time at the thin edge of the propaganda wedge and yet tens of thousands in the UK are caught up in it with no chance of leaving their captors clutches.
I can only speculate that Mr Waite is too close to the problem and his beliefs prevent him from seeing how he fronts a small part of a lucrative a confidence trick.
Ask how many have been sent to jail for shoplifting to pay a court fine and you would be aghat.
You spent some time at the thin edge of the propaganda wedge and yet tens of thousands in the UK are caught up in it with no chance of leaving their captors clutches.
Posted by: Jesus Christ, Arisen on 4:44pm Wed 26 Mar 08
Did you hear the one about Ali Baba?
He said the Lord helps those that help themselves,and how!
Did you hear the one about Ali Baba?
He said the Lord helps those that help themselves,and how!
Posted by: Will Blake, London on 4:54pm Wed 26 Mar 08
Which reminds me of a Poem.
Little Fly,
Thy summer's play
My thoughtless hand
Has brushed away...
Which reminds me of a Poem.
Little Fly,
Thy summer's play
My thoughtless hand
Has brushed away...
Posted by: Albert Steptoe, Me Horse and Cart on 4:59pm Wed 26 Mar 08
Those slaves will put us out of business,mark my words.
Those slaves will put us out of business,mark my words.
Posted by: Harold Steptoe, Oil Drum Lane on 8:50pm Wed 26 Mar 08
[quote][bold]Albert Steptoe[/bold] wrote:
Those slaves will put us out of business,mark my words.[/quote] "Shut up."
"You dirty old man!"
Sparticas (Or Hercules) will help us out if there is a problem.
Albert Steptoe wrote:
Those slaves will put us out of business,mark my words.
"Shut up."
"You dirty old man!"
Sparticas (Or Hercules) will help us out if there is a problem.
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