'The Knights of St. Columba have launched a life-saving partnership with Samaritans through a three-year fundraising scheme. The ‘Unsung Heroes’ campaign will run from October 2005 to October 2008 with the Knights of St. Columba raising funds for Samaritans - which has 183 branches nationwide.

The emotional support charity Samaritans is staffed by 17,600 volunteers - and money raised by the Knights of St. Columba will go towards training of volunteers which costs Samaritans £1 million every year.

Past Supreme Knight Tony Doherty said: “ Today’s modern world has so many people who have no one to ‘listen’ to them and their problems, when the pace of life creates emotional problems, often resulting in them being suicidal. Samaritans provide the conduit to people in this position to get that listening voice at the end of the ‘phone line, anonymous, but caring and listening. That is usually all these people need, someone to listen to their problems."

Samaritans also works at bringing the problems of emotional distress to the notice of voluntary and statutory organisations. But all this needs two things; one, the volunteer and two, the training. No one can take on this task without full and complete training.

The Knights of St. Columba are teaming up with Samaritans to help provide funds to carry out this in-depth training so that more volunteers can carry on this great tradition.

Samaritans was founded in 1953 and has been working for over 50 years to provide confidential emotional support to anyone experiencing feelings of emotional distress or despair including those which may lead to suicide.

Suicide is the leading cause of death among young men aged 15-34 nationally with over four suicides occurring every day. Two young people self-harm every hour and anyone who self-harms is 100 times more likely to go on to take their own life. Everyone has a one in four chance of becoming depressed. Samaritans plays a vital role in addressing all of these issues and is the only organisation with a vision to reduce suicide and to promote emotional health.

Almost 5 million people contact Samaritans every year - more than double the number of contacts received 20 years ago. People can now contact Samaritans by ‘phone, letter, by e- mail or by visiting a branch and Samaritans volunteers target people in communities who are at an above average risk from suicide - such as young people or the homeless, people in prison or on remand.

Samaritans volunteers give 2.4 million hours of time each year - an average 23 working days per volunteer. They come from all backgrounds but share an ability to listen to anyone without judging them in any way. Each new volunteer undergoes a rigorous selection process, an initial 26 hours training followed by six months mentoring by a trained volunteer before being allowed to deal with callers alone. They then receive ongoing training to ensure their skills are kept up to date.

Samaritans is a unique 24/7 confidential service - relying on donations for 95p in every £1 of its funding.

Samaritans chief executive David King (pictured right) said: “ Samaritans would like to say an enormous ‘Thank You’ to the Knights of St. Columba for their decision to embark on a three-year fundraising scheme with Samaritans. Everyday Samaritans receives 13,000 calls. They’re from ordinary people like you and me. Except that for one reason or another, they feel they can no longer cope emotionally. When someone reaches that point, we must be there for them. We must be there to listen. But we can only do that with your support. Your efforts and actions will ensure that all our volunteers are extensively trained and respond to the needs of our callers, whatever their need. “

These are just some of the ways that donations raised by the Knights of St. Columba would pay for volunteers’ training in Samaritans:

·         £2 will pay for a volunteer to answer a call from someone needing help.  

·         £109 will pay to recruit and train a new volunteer.  

·         £1,000 will pay for a volunteer to answer 400 e-mails to Samaritans from people needing help.

·         £5,000 will pay to recruit and train 46 new volunteers.

·         £36,000 will pay for Samaritans to run two volunteer training schools to develop the skills of our volunteer regional training teams.

·         £70,000 will pay to recruit and train 917 new volunteers.

Publicity material, including the Posters shown above, are now available to all Councils and other groups or individuals, offering assistance with fund raising. It is hoped that countrywide people will give the new project the support that it deserves.

The Knights of St. Columba with Samaritans fundraising packs will be sent out around the British Isles. The packs - one produced for every Knight - contain ‘Unsung Heroes’ posters and collection boxes and especially prepared recycling bags.

These bags are part of the ‘Get Recycling with Samaritans’ campaign which has been started in partnership with Reclaim It, a leading Electronic Waste management company so that empty inkjet printer cartridges can be turned into cash to help pay for Samaritans work.

Reclaim It will pay up to £2 for every cartridge returned from the list shown on the leaflet in the pack - while at the same time it’s an environmentally friendly step to take. The leaflet tells you how to go about disposing of your old cartridge.

Similarly, old mobile ‘phones can fetch up to £24 each - again the leaflet describes how to go about doing this.

There are a host of other fundraising ideas you might like to try locally - these are just a handful of them - more are shown on the Knights of St.Columba with Samaritans ‘ Unsung Heroes’ poster;

A ‘sponsored’ bad habit ban … London Marathon sponsored entries … St. George’s Day tea parties … family sports days … fundraising BBQ … fancy dress competitions … car rallies … super hero days … cake sales … and many more …

The Knights of St Columba are looking for volunteers to participate in a sponsored parachute jump to raise funds for the Samaritans. If you would like to participate in this exciting Tandem Skydiving activity for 'free' get more information here. Or, if you wish to sponsor someone taking part in this exciting activity then download a sponsor form here.

Visitors to this site can also can also make a real difference to people's lives; anyone wishing to make a donation to the current National Action Project campaign is requested to forward their charitable contribution to KSC Head Office, who will be pleased to acknowledge any donation, if requested.