York Samaritans visit

In 2024 York Samaritans were the York Rotary Dragon Boat Challenge nominated charity and as a result we were able to donate £16,000 to  York Samaritans for refurbishment of their premises.  In the same year York Inner Wheel also raised funds for York Samaritans.  With the refurbishment complete four representatives of York Rotary visited York Samaritans on 20^th March as part of a small group to see their refurbished premises.

From the visit we were very impressed to see how well the money had been spent.  The aim of the project had been to increase the number of call kiosks from two to three and to generally improve the appearance of the calling room and to improve comfort of the spaces.  The kiosks are well lit and set out, they are carefully sound proofed, but they are interlinked so that volunteers can relate to each other whilst on calls.  The room includes a comfortable break out area. 

In addition the refurbishment included the refurbishment of a room to provide a base for counselling using online chat which is an increasingly important aspect of the Samaritans work.  During the refurbishment work continuity of service from the York branch was maintained.

During the visit we heard more about the work of Samaritans.  In York there are 120 volunteers who provide what is mainly 24 7 service and in 2025 the York branch handled 19,654 calls, equivalent to 54 calls a day or 178 calls per volunteer year.  This represented 1,054 day shists and 413 night shifts (22.00 to 07.00) and 99 online chat shifts (on line chat is a developing new service).  Volunteers typically work for a minimum of 12 hours a month, but many do more.  One volunteer at York Samaritans is in their 55^th year of service.

Samaritans carry out outreach work at events during the year attending approximately 40 events and making approximately 40 visits to the local prisons.

The increase in stations from 2 to 3 means that more calls can be handled and that helps to reduce the waiting time for callers when nationally at 04.00 there might be 30 calls waiting.

Rachel Maskell MP who joined the visit talked about her admiration for the work of York Samaritans and the importance of mental health as an illness.

The York Samaritans volunteers need to raise approximately £50,000 a year to keep the service going and the fact that they do that as well as providing the service as no small task.

In Britain there were 6,000 suicides in the last year, that number emphasises the importance of the work that the Samaritans carry out to help in minimising the number of suicides and the obvious ongoing effects those have on families and friends.  On behalf of York Rotary the four of us who visited considered that the support of York Samaritans had been a very worthwhile project and we were delighted to see the finished results and talk about the work that had been carried out.

David Fotheringham