The chair of trustees at Emmaus South Wales, Julie Raikes, recently visited Bridgend Soroptimists to talk about the work the charity is doing in south Wales.
Emmaus provides shelter for homeless individuals and aims to give hope and a purpose to those benefiting from its much-needed accommodation. Emmaus South Wales is the club’s chosen charity for this year.
On this occasion, Julie was joined by a young man, Dean, who spoke freely and inspirationally on how his life spiralled out of control from an early age, resulting in many periods of custodial prison sentences. In April this year he was invited by Emmaus to take up residence in one of the units they are able to offer destitute individuals. He was also offered professional care and guidance.
Dean has taken very positive advantage of this opportunity and has completely turned his life around. He now enjoys a comfortable home environment, together with a new-found purpose in life as project manager of the ‘upcycling’ initiative conducted by the charity. Dean expressed his deep gratitude to Emmaus for reaching out to him when he was in need.
After the event Julie said, “Thank you so much for inviting us to meet with Bridgend Soroptimists again. I am so pleased everyone enjoyed hearing about us and from Dean in particular. He was buzzing when he left, he felt so proud, and honoured to have his story heard too. Everyone was so welcoming and very supportive of him. Thank you to everyone.”
