Nando’s supports local Welsh Charity in bid to end homelessness

Nando’s UK & Ireland has donated vital funds to support local homelessness charity, Emmaus South Wales, to facilitate counselling, which people would otherwise be waiting years for through the NHS, and to provide a weekly evening meal for residents – ‘Wednesday Night = Nando’s Night’.

This funding has been raised through the mandatory 5p charges for single-use paper carrier bags in Wales. Nando’s has collected these charges in line with regulations since 2015 and is committed to continuing to donate proceedings to its local charity partners, all members of it’s ‘No Chuckin’ Our Chicken’ food donation initiative. Nando’s announced earlier this year that over £106,000 will be shared between 36 charities across Wales and Scotland, through the mandatory single-use paper carrier bag charges.

On a recent visit to Emmaus South Wales’ Centre in Nant Lais Brigend, Richard Craft, Nando’s UK & Ireland Community Lead, said: “Our visit to Emmaus South Wales was brilliant. The team do incredible work, which has a life changing impact on so many people in the area. It was humbling to meet a few people who have used the charity and to hear about their experiences. Being able to help people through a challenging time and to make a real impact in the local community is exactly what we set out to do with our charity partnerships and also our food donation programme.”

Emmaus South Wales provides accommodation, support, work experience and funded training for as long as needed to help people rebuild their lives after experiencing homelessness. To fund its support and provide meaningful work opportunities, Emmaus runs several social enterprises in Bridgend and Porthcawl and operates Porthcawl’s land train service. Social enterprise is central to its model, as it provides meaningful work for the people supported by the charity but also generates funding to maintain communities. The rest of the funding that is needed is generated through fundraising.  

There are currently 30 Emmaus communities across the country, supporting more than 850 formerly homeless people in the UK. Emmaus South Wales is the first and only community in Wales.

Del Jones, Chief Executive Officer at Emmaus South Wales, said: “We are grateful to Nando’s for their kind donation which will help us continue to change the lives of formerly homeless people in South Wales. Our charity offers more than a roof over your head, it offers a home and an opportunity to rebuild your life after homelessness. People experiencing homelessness are more likely to have mental health problems, very often caused by not having a stable home, and providing counselling to our residents is key to our model. Emmaus South Wales also strives to offer a real community feeling for our residents and Nando’s weekly evening meal donations will help us to provide this.”

Emmaus South Wales is part of Nando’s ‘No Chuckin’ Our Chicken’ (NCOC) food donation initiative, which has been facilitated by FareShare for the past year. NCOC has run for over ten years and has seen Nando’s support more than 450 local charities across the UK, donating the equivalent of over three million meals to date. Nando’s provide chicken to local charities and community groups all over the UK via FareShare Go, a free service from FareShare, that links organisations with their local restaurants so that they can collect surplus food at the end of the day.