Charity scheme helps unemployed make new connections

A Seaforth charity is helping unemployed Sefton residents get back to work by training them as electrical testers, furniture upholsterers and shop sales staff.

The trainees are all volunteers at the Emmaus Recycling Superstore in Sandy Road and will learn vital new skills needed to reuse and recycle even more donated household items – including donated furniture and electrical appliances – and make them ready for sale.

The training is funded by the Merseyside Recycling and Waste Authority (MRWA) and Veolia Community Fund and will help around 20 shop volunteers, mostly unemployed people, get new skills.

Nigel Mellor, of Emmaus Merseyside, said: “The training will make our volunteers even more useful by giving them the skills we need to reuse and recycle more household items donated by the public.

“Many of the volunteers are unemployed so we hope the training and volunteer experience will ultimately help them get back in to permanent paid work as well as helping us out in the short term.”

Emmaus Merseyside was set up to provide training and work opportunities for  homeless people who will live in accommodation nearby which is set to open early in the New Year. Residents will join the existing volunteers working in the shop and will also receive training.

MRWA chairperson Councillor Graham Morgan said: “The Emmaus training project is great because it will benefit so many people in so different ways.

“As well as helping homeless and unemployed people become more independent, it will help the shop reuse and recycle even more pre-loved household items. That means we can stop even more bulky items ending up in landfill – and that’s good news for everyone.”