The Ealing Charity Christmas Card Shop has celebrated the 70th anniversary of the founding of The Samaritans with dignitaries including Ealing Mayor Councillor Hitesh Tailor and Ealing Central & Acton MP Dr Rupa Huq marking the occasion.
As well as being the 70th anniversary of The Samaritans, the Ealing Hammersmith and Hounslow branch was also the first charity to join the card shop in 1985.
Ealing Hammersmith and Hounslow branch director Heena Johnson said of the organisation established on 2 November 1953: “Without the support of fundraising initiatives like Ealing Charity Christmas Card Shop, our Branch would unable to deliver on the vision of Samaritans founder Rev Chad Varah all those years ago.”
The Ealing Charity Christmas Card Shop opened earlier this week at the Church of Christ the Saviour.
The volunteer shop sells cards from 28 charities and 100% of the money raised goes to the charities. It is open between 10am and 4pm Mondays to Saturdays until 19 December 2023 at the Church of Christ the Saviour, New Broadway, Ealing, London, W5 2XA.
One of the first people joining the queue to buy her cards was shop regular Dr Rupa Huq. She said: “I’m delighted to support yet again the Ealing Charity Christmas Card Shop with its fantastic selection of cards from charities that operate from the very local to all over the world.”
Since 1985, the Ealing Charity Christmas Card Shop has supported more than 100 charities and sold 5m cards to over 21,000 customers and raised more than £900,000,
For 2023 28 charities will have cards available to support their work : Age UK Ealing, Alzheimer’s Society, Book Aid International, Bridge of Hope, British Heart Foundation, Cancer Research UK, Cardiac Risk in the Young, Christian Aid, Combat Stress, Cystic Fibrosis Trust, Diabetes UK, Ealing Samaritans, Ealing Amnesty International, Epilepsy Research UK, Facing the World, Freedom From Torture, Friends of Hammersmith Hospital, Motor Neurone Disease Association, Mind, Multiple Sclerosis Trust, Parkinson’s UK, RNLI, Save the Children, Soil Association, Stella Maris – Apostleship of the Sea, St Marks Hospital Foundation Trust, Society of St Vincent de St Paul, Transform Trade and Unique.
