Reading Family Aid’s Toys and Teens Appeal returns for Christmas 2021. However, due to Covid-19, the charity has made the difficult decision to run the project virtually again, like last year. 
 
Instead of collecting presents, winners of The Queen’s Award, Reading Family Aid, are asking their generous supporters from the local community to donate money on their Go Fund Me appeal rather than gifts.  This money will be used to buy new Christmas presents for deprived children in Reading and delivered directly to the organisations that help them. 
 
Each year, we depend not only on the incredible support from the local community, but also on the tireless efforts of our volunteers. Our small army of volunteers work incredibly hard throughout the year, and believe it or not, we start to plan our Toys and Teens Appeals almost as soon as the years presents have been delivered.
 
One of the mums the charity supports said this:  “This has been a strange year…I think I've felt every emotion a human can have. I've enjoyed the time I've managed to spend with my children in lockdown; a time which, even though there was covid which took over the world and killed millions, I tried to create a bubble inside my house, a safe space for my children, somewhere they didn't have to worry…Now it's towards the end of the year, and your mind turns to Xmas. The adverts have started, it's in all the shops. The kids are excited - but you feel sick. Where will I get the money from? How will I afford it? Now after rent and utilities, I have £140 a month to live. How will I make it stretch? How will I feed my family let alone give my three girls the magical Xmas they deserve?”
 
Maria Simpson has been volunteering for Reading Family Aid for a little over 2 years. When asked what first made her want to join the team, she responded,
“I had recently donated some of my child’s toys, which were no longer played with, at a local drop off point in Reading (pre-pandemic), and wondered what happens next? How do they get to the children that need them most? Envisioning a team of Santa’s helpers, busy at work, delivering presents, I reached out to learn more about how RFA worked. The image of Santa’s helpers was not far from reality, and after learning more about the efforts of the team and the increasing requests for help, I offered to volunteer and help in any way that I could. I’m acutely aware that I am in the fortunate position to not worry about being able to provide my child with Christmas presents, and it was simply heart-breaking to think that other local families are struggling to make Christmas a special time for their children.”
In 2020, the Toys and Teens Appeal delivered gifts to over 1,400 disadvantaged children in time for Christmas.  This year, please consider donating to this cause and share the below crowdfunding page on your social media.  Anything you can give, no matter how small will make a huge difference to these families at Christmas time.  Thank you. 
The fundraising page will remain open until 4th December, after which the funds will be used to buy presents that will be sent directly to organisations and distributed to deprived children across Reading. To donate, please visit the Go Fund Me crowdfunding page:
https://www.gofundme.com/f/Reading-Family-Aid-Toys-and-Teens-21

The Annual Christmas Toys & Teens Appeal is back!
Reading Family Aid’s Toys and Teens Appeal returns for Christmas 2021. However, due to Covid-19, the charity has made the difficult decision to run the project virtually again, like last year. 
 
Winners of The Queen’s Award, Reading Family Aid, are asking their generous supporters from the local community to donate money on their Go Fund Me appeal rather than gifts.  This money will be used to buy new Christmas presents for deprived children in Reading, and delivered directly to the organisations that help them.  
 
Due to the incredibly generous donations received last year the charity was able to send new presents to over 1,400 children at Christmas time.  These are children who live in poverty, whose parents struggle to put food on the table and who worry annually about how they will continue to heat their homes over the winter months. 
 
Over the past 18 months lockdown has had a devastating impact, hitting poorer families the hardest.  In the UK alone 4.3 million children are living in poverty, equating to 9 in a classroom of 30.  In a survey of low-income families conducted in December 2020, six in ten families said they were struggling to cover the cost of basic essentials including food, utilities, rent and child-related costs.
Dealing with these struggles on a daily basis, Christmas is often another worry and financial burden that impoverished families face.  Out of the organisations Reading Family Aid supports there has been a 30% increase in requests for presents this year of over 2,500 children, showing the terrible impact Covid-19 has had. 
 
But the Toys and Teens Appeal is here to help.  Sponsored by The Chronicle and organised by Reading Family Aid, the charity is raising funds this year to buy new presents suitable for ages 0 – 16, to give to disadvantaged Reading families at Christmas time.
 
Ruth Perkins, volunteer from Reading Family Aid said “Imagine if your children or grandchildren had nothing to open on Christmas morning. Imagine having to tell them that Santa Claus wasn’t coming this year. Imagine how that would feel for both the children and the parents. Please help us to give these children the Christmas they deserve”. 
 
The impact of the appeal each year is overwhelming.  Last year Launchpad Reading sent the following message: ‘We are overwhelmed by people’s generosity. Because of you the families we support are going to have a brighter Christmas’.  Mums supported by the organisation Alana House also sent these messages of thanks ‘Thank you so much, having these gifts means less worry leading up to Christmas’, ‘I appreciate this so much, my kids are going to be so happy’, and ‘God bless you, the children will be so happy with what they get. This helped a lot’.
 
In 2020, the Toys and Teens Appeal delivered gifts to over 1,400 disadvantaged children in time for Christmas.  This year, please consider donating to this cause and share the below crowdfunding page on your social media.  Anything you can give, no matter how small will make a huge difference to these families at Christmas time.  Thank you. ​
The fundraising page will remain open until 4th December, after which the funds will be used to buy presents that will be sent directly to organisations and distributed to deprived children across Reading. There will be no donation points open this year due to Covid-19, however the charity are happy to accept direct donations of new or as-new toys - please email them to arrange collection or delivery.  Also, keep an eye out for exciting news on "pop-up" donation points in November!
 
To donate, please visit the Go Fund Me crowdfunding page:
https://www.gofundme.com/f/Reading-Family-Aid-Toys-and-Teens-21
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​For more information go to the Toys and Teens page of our website.

To arrange to have any toy donations collected email us.

On September 29th Reading's Mayor Cllr David Stevens met with some of the Reading Family Aid Committee to congratulate them on winning the Queen's Award for Voluntary Service. He said that the award is only given to volunteer groups that can demonstrate significant contribution to the wellbeing of the community over a long period of time with a good degree of professionalism. The award is the equivalent of an MBE for voluntary groups.
The award will be presented by the Lord Lieutenant of Berkshire on October 7th.

Reading Family Aid were one of 80 of charities from across Berkshire that were invited to attend a celebratory afternoon tea at Ascot Racecourse by Berkshire Community Foundation. It was ateended by the Duke of Wessex who thanked all the volunteers for the work we all did throughout the past year during the Covid pandemic. 
Laura and Sallie attended on behalf of Reading Family Aid and Laura said "The weather was beautiful and the food was scrumptious!  BCF supported us with a grant of £1875 at the end of 2020, which has been spent on events for disadvantaged Reading children over the summer holidays. The event also offered us the opportunity to meet others from our area who support disadvantaged children, including a couple of new contacts."