This year, more than one million calls will be received by Lifeline Australia. Callers can be lonely, depressed, victims of domestic abuse and some are suicidal.

And it makes perfect sense that every dollar in the Lifeline coffers is one of the best dollars we, as a community, could possibly spend.

What makes less sense, then, is that the hard-working staff and volunteers at Lifeline must spend so much of that time fundraising to keep the service going.

They are at it again this weekend with the return of the biannual Lifeline Central West Book Fair at Bathurst Showground.

Thousands of books will be sold for as little as $1 over the weekend with all funds raised to go towards training new crisis support workers for the charity’s Bathurst, Orange and Dubbo call centres 

Lifeline must be congratulated for pulling it all together, but still we must ask why they have to.

Paltry government funding for Lifeline each year goes nowhere near covering this vital organisation’s annual operating costs.

Their phone counsellors are there to help when people are at their very lowest ebb.

It is not easy work and the calls these volunteers take can be as harrowing as anything you might imagine. Yet, no matter how many volunteers Lifeline can get on the phones, demand for their service always outstrips the number of counsellors available.

Sourcing new counsellors and training, then, should be the main focus for Lifeline’s permanent staff, not fundraising to ensure the service is there whenever needed.

But that could only be possible if the grants from government were boosted significantly to reflect the true value of Lifeline to our society.

Until that happens, though, it is up to the community to support Lifeline’s important work and the best way to do that this weekend is to grab a few books and throw some money their way at the Bathurst Showground.

And, when you get home, maybe drop a line to your local MPs to let them know just how important funding Lifeline is. The taxes we pay are not their money, it’s ours, so we have every right to tell them how we think it should be spent.