Celebrating Our Volunteers This Volunteers' Week
This Volunteers' Week, Great Yarmouth Samaritans is proud to celebrate the incredible people who make our branch possible.
Our branch is run entirely by volunteers. Every call answered, every outreach event delivered, and every aspect of our service is made possible by people who freely give their time, compassion, and commitment to support others.
The person who answers your call in the middle of the night is a volunteer.
The Samaritans speaker who visits a workplace, community group, club, or society is a volunteer.
The Samaritans you might meet at a supermarket, railway station, or community event are volunteers too. They are also the people who visit schools to talk to young people about emotional wellbeing and how they can support friends who may be worried or upset.
Behind the scenes, volunteers carry out all the essential tasks that keep our branch running. As you might imagine, providing a service 24 hours a day, 365 days a year requires a great deal of organisation. From administration and recruitment to training, fundraising, maintenance, publicity, and governance, our volunteers make it all happen.
Becoming a Samaritans volunteer requires a significant commitment. Our volunteers are thoroughly trained and prepared for their role. Each volunteer undertakes around 40 hours of formal training, followed by at least 25 hours providing direct support to callers and visitors under supervision. They then complete a six-month probationary period as they continue to develop their skills and confidence.
This training and volunteering are fitted around busy lives, with many of our volunteers balancing their Samaritans commitment alongside work, study, family responsibilities, and other demands on their time.
All our volunteers come from every walk of life and are incredible people who choose to give up their valuable time to help support others in need.
Barbara, Great Yarmouth Branch Director
Volunteers' Week gives us the opportunity to recognise and thank our 50 volunteers for the extraordinary contribution they make. Their willingness to give their time, listen without judgement, and support people who are upset, troubled, or simply struggling to cope with what life has thrown at them makes a real difference every day.
Their dedication ensures that anyone who needs someone to listen can reach Samaritans, day or night, throughout the year.
To every volunteer at Great Yarmouth Samaritans: thank you. Your kindness, commitment, and generosity help us provide a vital service to our community, and we simply could not do it without you.
If you would like to join Great Yarmouth Samaritans and find out more about volunteering then go to our volunteering page.