Emmaüs
Have you ever been to one of our 600 second-hand shops in France? We sell books, clothes, trinkets, furniture… which were donated by people. But Emmaus is much more than those shops!
Emmaus is a world of its own.
Set up in 1949 by Abbé Pierre, Emmaüs struggles against poverty and exclusion. Emmaüs helps people to rebuild themselves and does so thanks to:
- Unconditional welcome
Our communities welcome and accommodate everyone irrespective of their backgrounds: migrants, undocumented people, psychologically-fragile people, people who have been in prison, etc. Psychologists, social workers and legal advisors are there to provide support to the people in our structures. - Self-sustainable action
To help the families in our structures to find a place in society, Emmaüs enables them to work. Thus, “helped people” become “helpers people”.The key activities are recycling, sorting and selling (of shoes, clothes, books, furniture, etc. that were donated). Proceeds from the sales are used to finance our housing structure, to pay for the wages of the support staff and to fund solidarity projects. - Solidarity
Generally speaking, Emmaus is a secular organisation which fights poverty with its housing projects, back-to-work projects, its struggle against excessive debt and its welcome and support.Our organisation leads other solidarity initiatives such as food distribution, shipping containers to Africa, providing financial support to other NGOs, etc. - Sustainable development
Emmaus works to protect our environment and to prioritise the social economy. Instead of being thrown away, the given items are :- recycled
- sold
- reused
Emmaus is also an international Movement! The Emmaus groups in other countries face other issues depending on their different local contexts: water consumption, healthcare, international migrations, ethical finance, human trafficking and education are their “priority areas”.
More information on emmaus-international.org
Emmaus Europe also organises summer camps in the various member groups of the European region.