We can make a difference more than ever

Helen Chandler-wilde introduces the four charities chosen for this year’s Telegraph appeal

For more than a century, The Telegraph has run charity appeals at Christmas, inviting readers to get into the festive spirit by helping those in need. One of the first such fundraising campaigns, during the First World War, helped supply troops with Christmas puddings.

Last year, readers dug deep into their pockets to support three worthy causes that help vulnerable children, lonely older people and sufferers of leukaemia. Over the course of the most recent Christmas Charity Appeal, we raised just shy of £600,000, with an astonishing £101,000 donated during a day-long phone-in, a now-annual event when readers call Telegraph writers and editors to pledge donations.

And then came coronavirus. As the country faced up to the knock-on effects of Covid-19, this spring we launched another appeal – this time for donations to help those whose lives had been devastated and whose families faced financial turmoil.

Together, our readers gave an incredible £1.2 million to provide emergency grants for food, rent, even funerals for family members lost during the pandemic.

Now, for the third time in 12 months, we are asking you to give again.

For the Telegraph Christmas Charity Appeal 2020, we have singled out four amazing charities that, in different ways, are helping those suffering from the mostly indirect, knock-on effects of Covid-19.

The first charity we have chosen is Cruse Bereavement Care (cruse.org. uk), which provides support and free counselling for people struggling to cope with loss. Cut off from friends and family by the pandemic, the bereaved are turning more than ever to Cruse for help.

Our second chosen charity is Macmillan Cancer Support (macmillan.org.uk), which looks after people suffering from what has become “the forgotten C”. This year has been particularly difficult to have cancer: diagnoses are down, treatments are delayed or cancelled, and patients have been left to face the hardest moments of their life in isolation. Macmillan provides emotional, medical and financial support to make it a little easier.

We are also supporting Refuge (refuge.org.uk), which helps around 6,500 women who experience domestic abuse every day. The pandemic has had an enormous effect on abuse victims, many of whom have

found themselves locked down with their abusers. Accordingly, Refuge has seen a sharp increase in demand for its services this year.

Finally, we have also picked

Carers UK (carersuk.org), which exists to make things a little easier for people who care for others, whether full or part-time. Non-professional carers have been severely affected by Covid-19, often juggling demanding working lives made more precarious by the pandemic and the need to shield with their charges, with the demands of looking after ill or disabled loved ones when access to respite services are limited by lockdowns. Unsurprisingly, calls to the Carers UK helpline have quadrupled this year.

Since the Telegraph Christmas

Charity Appeal took on its current form in 1986, it has made a real and lasting difference to the lives of hundreds of thousands of people, many of whose stories have been told in the pages of the paper. During last year’s appeal, the total amount raised by reader donations passed the £25 million mark.

In 2019, the first charity supported was The Silver Line, which provides a telephone friendship service for isolated older people. It also runs a helpline, which older people can call for conversation, information and advice.

Donations from our readers funded 49,000 phone calls to older people, which, in a year that the over-70s were ordered to shield from coronavirus, provided a lifeline to those stuck at home with no one else to talk to. Demand for The Silver Line’s services were higher than ever during the first lockdown, with calls to its helpline (0800 4 70 80 90) up by 30 per cent.

Dame Esther Rantzen, founder of The Silver Line, thanked The Telegraph’s readers for their huge donation, saying: “Covid-19 has caused so much distress and anxiety, especially for older people living on their own, for those who are caring for partners and those who have loved ones in care homes. Thanks to support like

The Telegraph’s, we’ve been able to continue offering friendship and a listening ear to those who need us the most during these challenging times.”

The second charity supported by last year’s appeal was Leukaemia Care, which provides emotional and financial support to those affected by blood cancer. The past 12 months have been particularly difficult for people with leukaemia. Many have had to shield due to risk of Covid-19 complications.

The Telegraph’s appeal raised £188,000 for the charity, which was enough to reach 10 million people with information about how to spot the signs of the cancer. Given that leukaemia is generally diagnosed late, this initiative has the potential to save many lives.

Zack Pemberton-whiteley, CEO of

Leukaemia Care, said: “While the world had to temporarily pause, we’ve had to work harder than ever to ensure that the most vulnerable people are the best supported. We’ve continued all of our services during this time, which we have to thank Telegraph readers for.”

Finally, our readers supported Wooden Spoon, a grant-giving charity started by rugby-loving families that supports children living in deprivation or with disabilities. With money from

readers, Wooden Spoon gave funds to 76 charitable UK organisations that were struggling to run essential services because of the drop in income caused by Covid-19.

Sarah Webb, Wooden Spoon CEO, said: “We are delighted to have helped so many charities through such a difficult time. Vulnerable children and young people need our help more than ever. Thanks to the support of The Telegraph readers, we have been able to make a significant impact on charities supporting children with disabilities and living in disadvantage at a time when they were struggling the most.”

For our Coronavirus Charity Appeal, we asked our readers to donate to Turn2us, which provides emergency financial aid to those in need.

Telegraph readers gave more than a million pounds, which covered most of the charity’s £1.3 million coronavirus programme. The money supported 2,400 people in extreme need, helping to pay for funerals, rent and food.

A Turn2us spokesman said it is “hard to describe” the difference Telegraph readers made to these people’s lives.

With this year’s Telegraph Christmas Charity Appeal, we will continue the theme of supporting those who have been particularly badly affected by this year’s unprecedented events.

‘We’ve been able to continue offering friendship and a listening ear to those who need us the most’

The forgotten C: living with cancer during the pandemic – see Saturday section