Rural charity launches pre-christmas campaign
In a major awareness raising campaign launched this week, the rural charity RSABI hopes to raise the profile of the range of support which it offers – and to double the membership of its supporters’ schemes.
The organisation, which provides important financial, practical and emotional support to individuals and families with links to Scottish agriculture, plans to make more people aware of its role and at the same time to increase donations to allow it to cover an ever expanding remit.
Covering everything from money worries and employment concerns to accident, illness and mental well-being, the charity has been preparing to step up its resources in response to anticipated increased demand for its services as farming faces the uncertainty of the post-brexit era.
The six-week push in the run-up to Christmas will use social media and a PR campaign to showcase the work it undertakes – and will include case studies of supporters from different parts of the industry explaining why the work carried out by the charity is so important.
Speaking yesterday, Nina Clancy, chief executive of the charity, said that one recent trend had been the increasing number of working farmers and younger people contacting the helpline (0300 111 4166) compared with a few years ago – when calls tended to come from older, individuals, often no longer working full-time.
She said that an increasing awareness amongst the Scottish farming community of the importance of mental health and the need to take action where there were concerns could be a factor behind this:
“RSABI is here to help people from Scottish agriculture and, without question, people requiring practical and emotional support is an increasing part of our workload,” said Clancy.
“Working in agriculture can be a lonely lifestyle and the nature of farming businesses means that unexpected challenges – such as weather, accident or ill-health – can result in difficulties for farmers and their families.”
The organisation’s chairman, Ewan Pate, said it was essential that the charity had sufficient resources to allow it to fully deliver its range of services – and that people who were experiencing difficulty did not hesitate to ask for, and receive, help.
“We are reaching out to the agricultural and wider rural community to ask for their support for our campaign and help us to both raise awareness of our services and much-needed funds to allow us to step up the resources we provide,” said Pate.
The campaign, which is backed by all the major agricultural organisations, is encouraging people with links to agriculture in Scotland to become members of its Supporters Schemes – which include individual, business and corporate memberships – with the aim of doubling membership numbers in all three categories by September 2020.
Individual memberships, at £25 a shot, were available for purchase as Christmas gifts and “Christmas jumper day” on Friday 13 December was being targeted for donations.