Friday, July 4, 2014

Samaritans Talk To Us Campaign

The other day I was going about my business, hoping to nab a bargain for the shoes I need to start work when I crossed paths with a charity volunteer. In the past, I would usually stop and listen to what they had to say, usually before politely declining to sign up for direct debit donations. Though recently, the last few times I’ve been stopped, I walk away feel worse than I usually did, usually because the person is over aggressive (in a happy way, not threatening) with their pitch. And because increasingly they kept saying I should be able to afford to donate, even after I explained I had no job. So these days I’ve taken a stance to say a polite but firm ‘no thank you’. Which is what I did and off I went on my journey, bagging my shoes for a grand total of £1.50 (thank you charity shops!).

samaritan-logo-300

On my way back, I passed him again and this time he said ‘Hello again’. I decided to tell him ‘sorry, but I have no job or money so I can’t really afford to donate’ and he said that’s fine, he wasn’t looking for direct debit sign ups, could he talk to me about what he was there for. I decided to listen and he told me that the amount of calls The Samaritans receive has increased, to the point where there’s a call every 6 seconds. Unfortunately they don’t have the funds to answer every call, even though they do try their best. They are running a new campaign called Talk To Us, where volunteers will be out on the street, raising awareness for what they do and asking people to text to donate. I did it there and there and continued on my merry way.

talk

I wasn’t going to write a post about this but after seeing all the tweets and photos about the man on the roof of Abercrombie and Fitch in Dublin, I decided I had to make a post. Luckily the man was talked down but I was sickened that people were taking photos of this, like it was some form of entertainment. And I know many other people I follow on Twitter feel the same. I don’t want to go on about this as I already have a post from a while back but there is always a way out, no matter how dark it feels. Please do try to talk to someone, a friend, family, a doctor or even a stranger like the Samaritans.

To text donate to the Samaritans, text SUPPORT to 70080 to donate £4 if you’re in the UK. Sorry Ireland, I don’t have a number for Ireland texts but if you do want to donate or even donate more than £4, you can do so through their website.

The Samaritans are open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Check the website for the different ways and numbers to contact them. And if you don’t get through because they are busy, please try again later, it will be well worth it.

12 comments:

  1. I usually avoid the campaigners on the street. The ones that knock at the door are even worse. One even put his foot inside my door as I tried to close it after saying "no thank you". Some can be very aggressive.

    Dannii - Hungry Healthy Happy

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    1. omg, can't believe he stuck his foot in the door, that's so bad!

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  2. I am not keen on signing up for direct debit donations - I am not financially able to, however, I do regularly give to charity when I can afford to and I like the idea of texting to donate.

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    1. Yes, I'm the same as you, I just can't afford to sign up for direct debit but I do try and give when I can. Text to donate just makes it even easier!

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  3. I usually donate what I can to charity, but I do prefer donating my time rather than money. I used to help out at a Samaritans shop and a youth club for children with mental health problems. It's a thing close to my heart too, having suffered with a severe period of depression at school and at uni too. I really hope that when I finish my PhD I can to get back to volunteering for them again :)
    We had a similar incident in MCR where someone was on the roof of the Arndale centre, some people were very cruel. Luckily someone talked them down.
    MissPond x

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    1. Wow, you're volunteering makes me look bad! I have donated time in the past and it's wonderful to do if you can't donate money. I spoke about it briefly in my March Recap post, as that was the time that No Makeup Selfie was going around and I just didn't have the credit to donate, so instead I sold daffodils for Daffodil Day back home in Ireland. Donating time is just as important as donating money. I must look into volunteering :)

      Ya, it's so cruel when people are just staring and pointing. I can get people gathered around and being concerned/curious but filming it and taking pictures is just unnecessary.

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  4. I love this post. I'm always happy to give my time for charity, but I don't always have the money and I feel intimidated. I've been called horrible names by charity collectors in the past for not stopping and giving money. I love speaking to people who are approachable and that you can just talk to with no problems and I love the Samaritans. I'm not ashamed to admit that I have talked to them in the past and I would not hesitate to contact the charity in the future :)

    xx

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    1. I can't believe you've been called horrible names by charity people :( That's disgusting. And well done you for contacting them, it can be such a hard thing to do (It took me a while to build up confidence to go to counsellors in uni) and you should not be ashamed to admit that either! Too much stigma and shame placed on mental health.

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  5. Have to admit I used to avoid some of these volunteers back in the day as they were quite pushy, some of them can make the odd cheeky comment which leaves me thinking: YOU WHAT?

    But it's great you actually came acros a decent one and had the time to make you aware of the fund raising!

    x

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    1. Ya, I have in the past crossed the road to avoid charity volunteers as they can be so in your face. But this guy, Sam, was lovely. He seemed genuinely interested in chatting to me. Unlike this other guy once, who's opening lines were 'Hello! I like your bag, where did you get it as I think my sister would like it?', didn't give me a chance to answer as he launched straight into his spiel! I just thought 'don't faux compliment me, it's insulting'.

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  6. This is a really important post, thank you for sharing. I didn't hear about the guy you mentioned but I'm glad he was talked down. Sadly things like this do tend to attract more people wanting to take photos than to help. So so sad x xx

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    1. Thank you :) Yes, it is unfortunate that loads more people seemed to be interested in snapping pics but I think the good thing that came from it (besides him being talked down of course) is the fact that so many people were disgusted with those who acted that way, spoke out about it on social media, especially Twitter, and spoke about mental health. It's so important to talk about it so I'm glad it got that side of things going.

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