The Baltic Exchange Charitable Foundation is helping to fund Sailors’ Society’s confidential Wellness Helpline which offers care and support to seafarers across the globe.
Our Helpline is available 24-7, 365 days of the year, accessible through a range of channels including mobile phone calls, text, WhatsApp, and email. The Helpline is a gateway to all our services. Our virtual global support means we can be there wherever people are – in port and on land and even miles out to sea.
Our Helpline is available for seafarers day and night. Out team can listen, offer advice, refer to other support services and help them contact family, and support them through times of personal crisis. From relationship problems to health or money worries, we’re here to help seafarers whenever they need us, wherever they are in the world. Our Helpline can be accessed via:
- instant chat via https://sailors-society.org/helpline (over 50% of engagement is via this channel)
- email crisis@sailors-society.org
- call +1 938 222 8181
Case Studies
Our chaplain in Scotland met a seafarer in port who then made contact via the helpline when he went back at sea. His grandfather was dying, leaving the seafarer with feelings of abandonment and grief as he left his family behind. Our chaplain was able to maintain contact with both the seafarer and his family. When the grandfather passed away, our chaplain held a virtual memorial on board the ship for the seafarer, and then helped him to get released from his contract early to be with his family.
Promoting our Wellness Helpline
As part of our new communications plan for the Helpline, we have been promoting the service directly to seafarers as both standalone content and as part of our wider communications. Examples of some of our new comms are shown below:
Recognition for Baltic Exchange Charitable Foundation
We are delighted to recognise the Baltic Exchange Charitable Foundation for its funding, and have added the Foundation’s logo to our Helpline webpage and Trusts and Foundations webpage:
We have also recognised the Baltic Exchange Charitable Foundation across our social media channels:
Other Funding Requests
We continue to cite funding from the Foundation in other funding applications. Having secured funds from an established and respected Foundation is extremely helpful to us as we continue to seek funding from other organisations. Funding from the Foundation has helped us leverage funding from other trusts, including The Sandra Charitable Trust, as well as Marshall Islands Registry.
Summary
We remain extremely grateful to the Foundation for the donation of £10,000 in 2023 to support our Helpline.
“Our Wellness Helpline is the gateway to all our services. Our renewed thanks to the Baltic Exchange Charitable Fund for your donation in 2023, enabling us to continue to provide care and support to seafarers and their families across the globe.” Sara Baade, Sailors’ Society CEO
