People supported by homelessness charity Emmaus Hull & East Riding are enjoying a revamped garden thanks to B&Q St Andrews Quay donating staff time and products to the project.
On Monday 23 September, a team of six colleagues from B&Q St Andrews Quay volunteered at Emmaus Hull & East Riding to transform the charity’s community garden. The charity provides a home, training, work opportunities and individual support to people who have experienced homelessness.
Min Newton, Team Leader at B&Q St Andrews Quay, said: “Visiting Emmaus and seeing their garden as a blank canvas at the start, it looks amazing now we’ve finished. It is very rewarding to support a local charity. The community here is amazing and walking away looking at our achievements was absolutely brilliant. It was my first time doing a B&Q Community Day but it is definitely not my last.”
Min and fellow B&Q staff members worked together to tidy the grounds at Emmaus, build new raised planters, plant flowers, install a new shed and tool station. The improvements will benefit the 30 people who live at the Emmaus community home and allow residents to maintain the garden more easily.
Fred Lazenby, Progression Worker at Emmaus Hull & East Riding, said: “It was a pleasure to welcome the B&Q volunteers to our residential community home in Hull and the team worked really well together. We’d like to say a huge thank you to the team and to B&Q for their generosity, donations, time and effort to create a much-improved space for the people we support.”
As a local charity, Emmaus Hull & East Riding relies on a range of support from individuals, partner organisations and businesses. In addition to the Emmaus residential community in Hull, the charity also delivers an outreach service in the East Riding, providing direct support to people who are street homeless.
To find out more about the different ways to support Emmaus Hull & East Riding, visit emmaus.org.uk/hull/support-us