A homeless charity in Sussex would like to thank a mystery benefactor for a generous donation to their charity garden shop.
Emmaus Brighton & Hove recently received a large donation of brand new gardening gifts from a mystery donor. The items will be displayed and sold in their garden shop ?The Greenhouse?. The charity believes it to be excess Christmas stock from a local business which perhaps wasn?t sold throughout the January sale period.
Emmaus Brighton & Hove is the local arm of an international charity helping people move on from homelessness by providing work and a home in a supportive family environment. The Brighton community is home to 48 people, known as companions, offering them a place to live and work as an alternative to homelessness. Each individual contributes by working to the best of their ability in one of the social enterprises or in another role within the community. Proceeds from the social enterprises are then invested back into the Emmaus community. As well as a second hand superstore, caf? and vintage emporium, the Emmaus site in Portslade also hosts ?The Greenhouse? a unique garden shop selling plants and garden paraphernalia donated by the public.
Chief Executive Christine Squince said of the mystery donation ?They goods were dropped off at our warehouse in boxes and it was only once the boxes were opened we realised the nature of the donations. Most of the items we receive are second hand, so it adds some variety for our customers to have some brand-new gift items to choose from.?
The Greenhouse was also the recipient of another large donation just before Christmas, this time from a local horticultural college. Plumpton College donated a number of plants which had been grown by students for training purposes and were surplus to requirements. These plants, many of them rare and tropical species, were given to The Greenhouse in the hope that new homes can be found for them whilst helping raise funds for the charity.
The Greenhouse can be found in the conservatory at the back of the Emmaus second hand superstore and contains a range of gardening tools, books, plant pots, plants and more items for the garden.
Emmaus Brighton & Hove celebrated its 20th birthday last year with a whole calendar of events celebrating the milestone. Many events will be held this year too, including a Spring Fair on Saturday 24th March as well as a number of themed pop-up sales which can be found listed on the Emmaus Brighton & Hove facebook page.
The mystery donations have been gratefully received and will be put out for sale in The Greenhouse conservatory shop over the coming weeks. Christine says, ?We are very grateful for the generosity of all the individuals and organisations who donate items for us to sell. We respect this mystery donor?s privacy and understand that they might be too modest to tell us who they are, but we?d like to say thank you nonetheless to whoever it was and let them know how grateful we are for their kind donation.?
