Emmaus House
"the poor serving the poor"
 
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"So many build a new life here and yet some bleed from wounds that it seems no one will ever heal. What are we to do? What are you to do? We listen to St. James? Suppose a brother or sister is in rags, but not enough to eat for the day and you say,? Good luck, God bless you, keep yourself warm and have plenty to eat?, but does nothing to supply their bodily needs, what is the good of that??(James 11:15) For almost forty years, with your help, we have answered that question by feeding the hungry, housing and empowering the homeless, caring for the sick."

-Father David Kirk (Dec. 2004)
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"Compassion is not a sentiment, not pity, but a celebration of love.  Love shared is doubled.  Joy shared is doubled.  And the celebration is forgetting so as to remember, as in the Liturgy.  A forgetting of ego, of problems, of anxieties, in order to remember the common base that makes another's suffering mine.  Compassion is a feeling of kinship with every human person"
-- Fr David Kirk

"Live Simply So That Others May Simply Live" -- Elizabeth Seton

 

Emmaus House lives by these words and in doing so we try to have something left to share with the homeless, the hungry, the poor, the suffering, the sick, and the dying.

Over 40 years ago Father David Kirk founded Emmaus House for such as these.  Emmaus is community of the poor, helping the poor (for no matter what we possess, we are all poor, for we stand in need of brothers and sisters).  We offer assistance by feeding and clothing the neighboring poor both physically and spiritually, always remembering that each and every one of us is created in the image and likeness of God.

Each Thursday night friends of Emmaus travel the streets of Manhattan providing food and drink to the hungry. In the cold months, blankets, coats and other winter clothing are distributed to those in need. The past several weeks have seen different groups of volunteers from area churches as well as a sorority from Hofstra University.


A prayer service is held in the Chapel of Christ the Homeless before every soup run.
"I do not agree with the big way of doing things. To us what matters is an individual. To get to love the person we must come in close contact with him. If we wait till we get the numbers, then we will be lost in the numbers. And we will never be able to show that love and respect for the person. I believe in person to person; every person is Christ for me, and since there is only one Jesus, that person is only one person in the world for me at that moment."  --Mother Theresa

Emmaus House in Harlem exists to exemplify this kind of personal hospitality. We believe in meaningful one-to-one encounters that encourage the best behavior from all of us. We look for creative and consistent ways to serve the poor, and yes, to be served by the poor. We have the major lesson of gratitude to learn from them. Although we are not be able to house residents at this time, we are engaged in intensive outreach to the poor. We continue to provide much needed food and clothing pantries, our prayerful traveling soup kitchen to those on the streets, hospitable referral services and fellowship meals in our modest dining area.

Moreover, we seek opportunities to listen and simply be with each other, bearing witness to our common pains and joys. Having an intimate place to "break bread" together affords a rich banquet for human interchange.

We extend to you, dear friends, the same kind of hospitality. We invite you to join us as volunteers, as readers of our newsletter "Breaking Bread at Emmaus", and as financial helpers.  Please, keep us in your prayers!
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