Editing Samaritans (charity) (section)

==History==
[[File:Samaritans Coventry 6f08.JPG|right|thumb|The [[Coventry]] branch of Samaritans]]
Samaritans was founded in 1953 by the Rev. [[Chad Varah]], a Church of England [[vicar]] in the Diocese of London. His inspiration came from an experience he had had some years earlier as a young curate in the [[Diocese of Lincoln]]. He had taken a funeral for a fourteen-year old girl who had died by suicide because she believed she had contracted an [[Sexually transmitted disease|STI]], when in reality she was [[menstruating]].<ref>{{cite news|last=Burleigh|first=James|title=Rev. Chad Varah, Anglican Priest Who Helped the Suicidal, Dies at 95|newspaper=[[The New York Times]]|date=10 November 2007|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/10/world/europe/10varah.html|access-date =27 June 2009}}
</ref> Varah placed an advertisement in a newspaper encouraging people to volunteer at his church, listening to people contemplating suicide.<ref>{{Cite news
  | last = Bernstein
  | first = Adam
  | title = Chad Varah; Priest's Suicide Hotline Grew Into the Samaritans Movement
  | newspaper = [[The Washington Post]]
  | date = 10 November 2007
| url = https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/11/09/AR2007110902420_pf.html
  | access-date =27 June 2009}}
</ref>

The movement grew rapidly: within ten years there were 40 branches and now there are 201 branches across [[Great Britain]] and [[Ireland]], deliberately organised without regard to national boundaries on the basis that a service which is not political or religious should not recognise political or sectarian divisions.<ref name="history">{{cite web
 |title       = Samaritans History
 |publisher   = Samaritans
 |url         = http://www.samaritans.org/about_samaritans/governance_and_history/samaritans_history.aspx
 |access-date  = 20 June 2009
|url-status     = dead
 |archive-url  = https://web.archive.org/web/20090402133641/http://www.samaritans.org/about_samaritans/governance_and_history/samaritans_history.aspx
 |archive-date = 2 April 2009
|df          = dmy-all
}}</ref> Samaritans offers support through over 21,200 trained volunteers (2015) and is entirely dependent on voluntary support. The name was not originally chosen by Chad Varah: it was part of a headline to an article in the ''[[Daily Mirror]]'' newspaper on 7 December 1953 about Varah's work.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.samaritans.org/images/sams-mirrorarticle.gif|title=Samaritans.org|access-date=28 May 2017|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080801074214/http://www.samaritans.org/images/sams-mirrorarticle.gif|archive-date=1 August 2008}}</ref>

In 1972, [[BBC One|BBC1]] ran an 11-episode television series called ''[[The Befrienders]]'', featuring fictional stories about people in desperate situations who reach out to the Samaritans.<ref name=":2">{{Cite journal |last=Holding |first=T. A. |date=May 1974 |title=The B.B.C. 'befrienders' series and its effects |url=https://dx.doi.org/10.1192/bjp.124.5.470 |journal=British Journal of Psychiatry |volume=124 |issue=582 |pages=470–472 |doi=10.1192/bjp.124.5.470 |pmid=4836377 |via=EBSCOhost}}</ref> Although it was cancelled after one season, the series helped to raise public awareness about their work, leading to a significant increase in inbound calls, as well as a surge in the number of volunteers in the UK.<ref name=":20">{{Cite book |last=Forrest |first=Hilary |url=https://archive.org/details/earstohear50year0000forr/page/84/mode/2up?q=befrienders%20samaritans%20BBC#page/84/mode/2up/search/befrienders?q=befrienders+samaritans+BBC |title=Ears to Hear : 50 years of Samaritan Listening |date=2003 |publisher=Sedjem Press |isbn=9780954511401 |location=Massachusetts |pages=85–86}}</ref><ref name=":2" />

In 2004, Samaritans announced that volunteer numbers had reached a thirty-year low, and launched a campaign to recruit more young people (specifically targeted at ages 18–24) to become volunteers. The campaign was fronted by [[Phil Selway]], drummer with the band [[Radiohead]], himself a Samaritans volunteer.

In 2004, Chad Varah announced that he had become disillusioned with Samaritans. He said, "It's no longer what I founded. I founded an organisation to offer help to suicidal or equally desperate people. The last elected chairman re-branded the organisation. It was no longer to be an emergency service, it was to be emotional support".<ref>[[Anthony J. Jordan]] "The Good Samaritans, Memoir of a Biographer". pp.7-20. Westport Books {{ISBN|978-0-9524447-5-6}}.</ref> One in five calls to Samaritans is from someone with suicidal feelings.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.samaritans.org/sites/default/files/kcfinder/files/Samaritans%20Impact%20Report%202012.pdf |title=Archived copy |access-date=4 July 2014 |archive-date=24 September 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150924094141/http://www.samaritans.org/sites/default/files/kcfinder/files/Samaritans%20Impact%20Report%202012.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref> Samaritans' vision is that fewer people will die by suicide.<ref>{{cite web
 |title       = Vision Mission and Values
 |publisher   = Samaritans
 |url         = http://www.samaritans.org/about_samaritans/governance_and_history/samaritans_history.aspx
 |access-date  = 20 June 2009
|url-status     = dead
 |archive-url  = https://web.archive.org/web/20090402133641/http://www.samaritans.org/about_samaritans/governance_and_history/samaritans_history.aspx
 |archive-date = 2 April 2009
|df          = dmy-all
}}</ref>

In 2005, a rapprochement was reached when Varah met with the new chief executive, and then chairman, of The Samaritans and enjoyed hearing about the continued essential and enlightened work Varah had begun in 1953. In 2006, Varah's eldest son, Michael Varah, was appointed to sit on the newly created board of trustees.<ref>{{Cite news |date=2007-11-08 |title=Rev Dr Chad Varah |url=https://www.theguardian.com/news/2007/nov/08/guardianobituaries.obituaries3 |access-date=2024-02-16 |work=The Guardian |language=en-GB |issn=0261-3077}}</ref>