Firstly, if you require support for any emotional or mental health concern, there are a number of ways for you to get in touch with Samaritans:
FREE 24 hour helpline - 116 123
Email jo@samaritans.org
Write a letter for FREE addressed to Freepost SAMARITANS LETTERS
At some point, we may hit a really low point in our lives and feel as if there is nobody to turn to for help. As a result, charities such as Samaritans, who provide a 24 hour helpline for people suffering from emotional or mental health concerns, have been crucial in offering people the support they need. Therefore, in order to raise awareness, and allow Samaritans to continue to do their amazing work, we have decided to take on their challenge to run 30k throughout the month of November. The link to our fundraiser if you wish to donate is here https://tinyurl.com/matthews30k and if you would like to start your own fundraiser you can visit the Samaritans’ ‘Jog 30k in November’ Facebook group here where you can also register for a t-shirt. https://tinyurl.com/jointhejog
Where It Began
While working as an assistant to a vicar in 1935, Edward Chad Varah was conducting a funeral service for a fourteen year old girl who had sadly taken her own life. She had done so out of fear that she had a sexually transmitted infection, when in fact she had begun her first menstrual cycle. This encounter inspired Edward to offer counselling to people that visited his church so that anyone who had any mental health concerns had somewhere to turn to.
However, in 1953, after taking charge of the parish of St Stephen, Edward was able to launch a telephone helpline to accompany face to face appointments. He was able to spread awareness of the helpline thanks to an article in the Daily Mirror which not only caused an influx of calls from people requiring support, many people also called to express their desire to volunteer as well.
From London, interest in Samaritans spread throughout the UK and Republic of Ireland. The result is that today, Samaritans has over 20,000 volunteers spread across 201 branches, where volunteers respond to approximately 10,000 calls a day.
How Will Your Donation Be Used?
Having transparency with your donors as a charity is a necessity. Samaritans have therefore provided a breakdown of how any money raised to support their cause is used:
For every £1 raised, 85p goes towards the services that Samaritans offer, and the remaining 15p is invested to raise the next £1
A £10 donation would cover the cost of two phone calls to their service
A £24 donation could train a volunteer
A £41.67 donation could keep their helpline open for 5 minutes
A £96 donation would be enough to train and support an existing volunteer for a year
A £500 donation would cover the costs of keeping the helpline open for one hour
Donations are also used to provide workplace training so that people are able to take better care of their mental health while at work as well as to fund campaigns aimed at raising investment in suicide prevention.
The Samaritans is regulated by the Fundraising Regulator which creates and maintains the standards for charitable fundraising. All fundraising activities are therefore monitored regularly against the Code of Fundraising Practice.
Thank You
The Samaritans give people suffering from emotional or mental health concerns somewhere to turn to and by donating to such an incredible cause, you could be helping to save someone’s life. We’d like to give a big thank you in advance to all of the people that donate to our fundraiser and good luck to all the people that have decided to take on this challenge too.
