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Samaritans volunteers or Santa's little helpers? Your call...

The Horsham and Crawley Samaritans have been nearly as busy as Santa's elves this Christmas!

  • Posted 21st December 2025

Collections in Swan Walk

Despite another year of rising costs, it hasn't stopped the generosity of the public in their donations this weekend. Many people came to speak with us at the Swan Walk collection to share how much the Samaritans have made a difference in their lives.

This outreach was very moving, with people expressing their interest in becoming fellow volunteers when their circumstances allow. It’s so great to know the general public is knowledgeable about what the Samaritans stand for, and they always appreciate that we are local volunteers, and that we are fundraising for our branch at Denne Road.

Great conversations and great connections.

A volunteer present at the swan walk collections.

Gift wrapping at County Mall reached new heights!

present wrapping

A weekend full of wrapping and fundraising. The volunteers were even lucky enough to get a visit from the big man himself.

You never know what you might get asked to wrap. While the afternoon was filled mostly with boxes, one shopper gave the task of wrapping this rather unusual gift!

Can you guess what it was?

wrapped giraffe

Did you guess it was a giraffe?

Our volunteers hadn't encountered a present of this size before, but it was nothing they couldn't manage!

More fundraising with the Horsham Artists

a volunteer with a donation bucket

As 2025 draws to a close, we owe the Horsham Artists a huge thank you for all their support and help this year. Thanks to their generosity, the Horsham and Crawley branch has raised over £6000! These funds will help the branch to function, as well as allowing the branch to expand and train new volunteers.

artists

While fundraising we were recipients of many “thank you's” with one member of the public thanking us for helping to keep the community safe.

Horsham Christmas Market

market stall

The Samaritans were able to have a stand at the Horsham Christmas Market this month, where we stepped up and braved the cold (-2!!) to raise Public awareness and £187.58 for the branch!

What an incredible team effort to pull this off and make it successful.

market stall

On top of this was the amazing team bonding that occurs at all of these events. The chatter afterwards was full of remarks about thawing out, but also about how lovely it was to spend time with fellow volunteers, catch up with the community, and be part of such an amazing team.

From everyone at Denne Road, we wish you a restful Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Thank you for all your support this year.

We look forward to continuing our work into 2026.

See you there!