The Gould Samaritans

Southampton Marketing Communications Agency Supports The Samaritans It is not commonly known that the Samaritans receives no government funding at all, it relies purely on the generous donations of businesses and the public to keep the centres running. Marketing communications agency Carswell Gould is lending a helping hand to the Southampton branch; one of the busiest in the country, taking over 24,000 calls every year.

Despite the tens of thousands of calls, the local branch was on the brink of closure six months ago due to a serious lack of funding. Fortunately the charity is still open and offering even more services than before, including text messaging and emailing.

Alan Whitehead MP recently visited the charity and commented: "The charity provides a vital service for so many people and it exists entirely on donations. A big part of the money that comes in is from generous local businesses, and I would urge any local companies who can give to do just that".

Carswell Gould is showing its support by donating PR skills to help with fundraising events, quiz nights and a Christmas concert are vital fundraising tools for the Southampton branch and effectively publicising them and selling tickets is key to the Southampton Samaritans staying in operation.

Branch Director Sue Roberts says: "The last six months have been exhausting, we had to work round the clock to raise enough money to keep us going but the threat of closure spurred us on. We have done extremely well to get this far but we still need all the help we can get. We are enormously grateful to Carswell Gould for their help and support and I hope other businesses will follow in their footsteps".

Gill Gould, managing director at Carswell Gould says: "We are proud to be helping the Samaritans and our PR team are enjoying getting involved. It would a great loss to the city if the branch had to close".

Anyone wishing to support the Samaritans please call Becky or Louise at Carswell Gould.