Samaritans Fundraiser

Pembroke Kilkenny Presents Samaritans with Donation

Pembroke Kilkenny has raised a sum of €3,000 for the Kilkenny/Carlow branch Samaritans Ireland. Every year, Pembroke Kilkenny partners with the Samaritans Kilkenny & Carlow branch for its ‘Bangers and Mash’ fundraiser. When that was not possible this year, due to lockdown, we started a GoFundMe campaign instead. We were proud to present Colette Shannon & Tracy Millea from Samaritans Kilkenny & Carlow with a cheque for €3,000, with the help of donations from our community and friends.

Paul Broderick, General Manager of Pembroke Kilkenny says,

“We have a long tradition of working with the Samaritans and we are very conscious that now, more than ever their services are essential to support the community through a very difficult time. The Samaritan’s charity shop, its primary source of funding, has been closed throughout the year, and the annual Bangers & Mash fundraising lunch was cancelled, so we wanted to do our part to help support their work. We’d like to thank everyone who supported our campaign for the Samaritans.”

Every 49 seconds, someone contacts Samaritans in Ireland. People call them with a range of issues including feeling lonely, isolation, breakdown of a relationship, work pressure, mental illness, bereavement, and thoughts of suicide. The voluntary organisation had been operating in Carlow and Kilkenny for 25 years.

The charity says Coronavirus is a notable feature of quite a lot of calls at the moment. Four out of 10 callers to the service reference loneliness or isolation as an issue. The organisation’s research has shown the pandemic and the lockdown have most impacted on three groups, already at high risk of suicide – middle-aged men, young people, and individuals with existing mental health conditions.

Samaritans Kilkenny & Carlow said,

“COVID-19 has magnified some of the issues that Samaritans volunteers encounter such as anxiousness and mental health, loneliness and isolation, along with family and relationship issues. It has been a challenge to provide our services this year, however with the generosity of the community and partners such as Pembroke Kilkenny we have managed and will continue to support vulnerable people across Kilkenny and Carlow.”

Samaritans service is delivered 365 days a year, through a network of 2,300 amazing volunteers across 22 branches throughout the 32 counties of Ireland.

If you would like to talk in a safe supportive space, call the Samaritans on 116123 or visit www.samaritans.org

Photo: Tracy Millea (Samaritans), John Ryan (Pembroke), Colette Shannon (Samaritans), Paul Broderick (Pembroke)

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