Remar aims to:
- Take people off the street
- Assist people in coming off drugs or other addictions
- Provide practical help and an environment where they can recover, gain their dignity and self-esteem back
- Guide recovering addicts back to independence
- Have an impact in reducing drug-related crime and social dysfunction in the UK
Remar is an abbreviation of a Spanish phrase which means “Rehabilitation of people on the margin of society”. Remar also is the verb to row. Remar, therefore, can be seen as a team of oarsmen all in the same boat rowing out against all the cruel currents of the world.
Our commitment is to provide integral and practical support to combat the effects of growing poverty and addiction.
Background
The REMAR Association UK began its work in Nottingham in 1992 and at present has community centres located in Glasgow, Sheffield, London, and Nottingham. Over the last twenty-seven years, it has consistently assisted hundreds of socially excluded people in breaking away from lives of addiction and delinquency and has won the support of many private companies in financial backing and in-kind donations. Some individuals who have completed our programs have decided to stay on and become voluntary members of our team helping and encouraging others with similar problems.
Whilst other people who have been assisted by us, are now living and working in society. Teams go out every week to bring practical help (food and drink) to those lonely and distressed homeless people who live on the street. These individuals are offered the possibility to leave their ruined lives and recover their lives in our centers across the UK. Many of these individuals are leaving behind lives of drugs, alcohol abuse, crime, and prostitution. But who better to reach out and help them than people in our REMAR team who themselves have lived these desperate situations and have been through our programs.
Many of our permanent team members came through REMAR centres and took part in our rehabilitation program the majority of whom were coming off lifelong substance addictions, many came straight off living on the streets, others were ex-offenders or unemployed but all came with the desire to change their lives. After being freed from a lifelong addiction they have decided to stay on and offer support to those going through the same struggles they experienced and participating in our rehabilitation program.