Homeless.com

The Internet seems a long way removed from the needs and concerns of the homeless. But the Emmaus organization sees in the Internet a creative way to help the needy. Their ingenuity challenges us to actualize Jesus’ call to lift up the fallen.

The homeless of Paris, France, just like homeless people everywhere, live in constant fear of robbery. They carry what they own. In Paris, thanks to the Emmaus organization, the homeless now have access to a protected site where they can store their vital documents — cyberspace.

The organization has created an Internet center at a shelter in central Paris, where homeless men and women, helped by volunteers, create e—mail accounts and personal Web sites.

Emmaus is a homeless organization founded by L’Abbe Pierre. After World War II, this hero of the French Underground was so distraught by homelessness that he opened his home and housed a dozen men. In 1954, he began raising the national conscience about homelessness, and an organization was born.

Emmaus currently has 4,000 formerly homeless people, called companions, living in self—supporting communities across France and the world. In the United States his model is found at H.O.M.E. (Homemakers Organized for More Employment) in Orland, ...