During holidays, compassion is a phone call away
For many people, the holidays can be reminders of troubles they are facing. That's why volunteers answer phones at Hopeline, a hotline for helping those who are in crisis or contemplating suicide.
Posted — Updated“I am hearing that you are not sure where to go from here,” she says to a caller.
Margaux Austin, executive director of Hopeline, said she’s thankful for volunteers like Wright.
"During the holiday season, it gets extremely busy,” she said. “A lot of people are stressed financially, family issues come up, relationship issues. All of them are feeling hopeless.”
Hopeline gets about 450 calls a month, and Austin says that increases by 25 percent from November to January. Trained volunteers answer the phones not to offer advice, but compassion.
"I think that is one of my biggest scares. When someone reaches out to us and we don’t pick up that phone, what happens?” Austin said.
That’s the reason Amy Wright was in an empty office on Thanksgiving when she could have been with her family.
“Today, people are probably having a very hard day, and they need somebody to be there,” she said.
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