Samaritans praise John Lewis

The chair of the local branch of Samaritans says she is delighted with the contribution to the charity made by the Exeter John Lewis store.

“We’re enormously grateful to John Lewis for a really generous donation of £1,020” explains Bridget Neligan, chair of Exeter Mid & East Devon Samaritans.

“Samaritans relies entirely on voluntary donations - we receive no grants and no official funding - so we’re extremely grateful for each contribution. I would also like to thank the shoppers who chose our charity when they visited the store” she says.

The cheque was presented to Bridget Neligan (centre in photograph) by the John Lewis Community Liaison Co-ordinator Aimee Luxton (left) and by Belinda Biggs who is a former Samaritans volunteer and a partner at the Exeter John Lewis store.

As part of its social responsibility activities, the John Lewis store selects three community groups which receive a combined donation of £3,000.

Over the course of three months, customers vote for the charities by dropping tokens into ‘Community Matters’ donation boxes after they shop in the store. Each charity receives a proportion of the £3,000 in line with its share of tokens.

Samaritans provides support to people who are distressed or in despair which may lead to thoughts of suicide. People can talk to us at any time, in their own way and in confidence, about whatever is going on in their life.

The charity is keen to explain its work to retailers and businesses as well as community organisations throughout the Exeter, Mid & East Devon area. Anyone wanting to discuss this should contact the Samaritans branch director, Helen Crossfield, on director@exetersamaritans.org.