Jo Denvir says Lifeline is busiest at Christmas when loneliness and poverty hurt the most. Photo / Brett Phibbs
Jo Denvir says Lifeline is busiest at Christmas when loneliness and poverty hurt the most. Photo / Brett Phibbs
This Christmas the Herald is again featuring charities which have been selected for a $10,000 donation from the Auckland International Airport. Eleven charities have been chosen and the 12th donation will go to the families of the Pike River 29. The $120,000 came from change given by travellers at the airport this year.
Christmas is the busiest time for counselling service Lifeline Auckland, which sees a sharp increase in the number of calls it receives.
The 24-hour service, which runs every day of the year, receives $10,000 as a recipient of this year's annual Auckland Airport 12 Days of Christmas giveaways.
It isthe second charity to be profiled as part of the Herald series.
Chief executive Jo Denvir says it is a struggle to keep the call centre going at this time of the year, so the money will go towards making sure they are fully staffed throughout the holidays.
"We are even more needed around Christmas. It's a really stressful time for families. We hear about finance issues and addictions and also loneliness or isolation where people don't have family," she said.
"We all think of Christmas as being such a wonderful family celebration. But for people without family or money, it can be really stressful."
The Auckland call centre gets about 30,000 calls each year, from all parts of the country.
Of those calls, the centre gets about 100 each month from people thinking about taking their own lives.
When the Christmas season arrives, the centre can see up to a 15 per cent increase in the number of calls coming in each day.
Mrs Denvir said getting the grant from Auckland Airport would ultimately help to make sure that calls - and therefore those reaching out to someone - will be answered.
"We are just so pleased that this grant has just taken off the burden. It's really concerning to try to make cuts around this time," Mrs Denvir said.
"The less calls answered, the more people we can't help. It's always such a bad feeling when you're on the phone to someone and you can hear the beep indicating another call is coming through and there's no one to take it.
"You think to yourself: 'Do I need to get off the phone to answer another person who needs me?"'
Lifeline also offers other targeted types of counselling including Kidsline for youngsters aged up to 14 years old, Chinese Lifeline and the Gambling Helpline.
It also offers face-to-face counselling.
* For more information or to speak with someone at Lifeline Auckland, call: (09) 522 2999 or 0800 543 354 outside of Auckland.
