A CORONAVIRUS fund grant is helping the Samaritans train new volunteer listeners as it contends with a more than 20 per cent rise in callers during the pandemic. Swindon and District Samaritans has been awarded £3,500 from Wiltshire Community Foundation’s Coronavirus Response and Recovery Fund to buy new headsets and carry out extra deep cleaning at its branch office in Swindon. The money was donated to the fund by the Oakfield development, a new neighbourhood of 239 sustainable homes in east Swindon. The community foundation’s fund has already raised £1.2 million and distributed more than £1 million through more than 200 grants to groups across the county.