Toys and Teens 2025 is complete!

The Reading Family Aid Toys and Teens Appeal has once again been a huge success with tens of thousands of toys and gifts donated to the appeal by the people of Reading and the surrounding area. This has allowed us to donate a very good selection of presents to 2,676 children living in this area who would otherwise be unlikely to receive anything for Christmas.  Huge thanks to everyone who got involved through donations, volunteering, being a donation point, organising a collection or in any other way.

The appeal was launched by Reading's Mayor, Councillor Dr Alice Mpofu-Coles back in mid-October. The Mayor said “There’s a lot of hidden poverty in Reading. This charity is very important in our town. It donates all sorts of toys to children during Christmas who need it, and it alleviates the stresses from families who can’t afford toys. We need your donations, we need families to be supported, this is a crucial charity in doing that as we go into Christmas. Please support the appeal by donating gifts at any of the donation points in Reading. Thank you.”

Jill, a Parish Nurse at Reading Gateway, has been involved in the Toys and Teens Appeal for the past five years. She said: “The appeal means so much to us. It is truly amazing to see the joy it brings to children who might otherwise receive very little. Parents often express deep gratitude, saying how the support helps relieve the enormous stress of what should be a happy time. Without this appeal, many would find it unbearable not being able to provide even a small gift for their children. To be able to lift that burden and bring smiles to families is a real privilege.”

Donations

Each week of the Appeal, we are grateful to the Reading Chronicle for printing our stories and pictures, together with the list of  Donation Points

Members of the public donated at our 24 public donation points that were scattered all over the Reading area.

Berkshire Freemasons asked their members to donate to the appeal and they raised an astonishing £6,000 with which they bought gifts mainly for the older children which they brought to the hall at the start of the week. Diane Stone said, “It’s incredible what Reading Family Aid do each and every year with the contribution from Berkshire Freemasons.”

Gerry Preston, Diane Stone and Peter Hopkins presenting members of RFA with some of the many gifts bought by the Berkshire Freemasons

Businesses got involved and asked their employees to donate to their in-house collection.
Hewlett Packard supported our Appeal again, saying: “For the third year running, HP are proud to stand alongside Reading Family Aid in support of their Toys and Teens Appeal. The difference they make to families across Reading at Christmas is truly inspiring. Once again we are collecting toys and gifts at our End of Year Event to help ensure every child wakes up to something special on Christmas morning. We’ve seen first-hand how generous the local community can be, and we’re looking forward to another incredible year of giving back together. It’s a privilege to play a part in helping Reading Family Aid bring joy to so many families this festive season.”

Roc Search did their usual generous collection, and were there to meet our van team and help load up the van with all the gifts.

​Many schools organised collections, and we were amazed at the generosity of the school communities.

Downsway Primary School

Reading Blue Coat School

Leighton Park School's 'Amicus' senior charity group, who organised their collection

People have donated £3,813 on our GoFundMe and we received many other donations via our LocalGiving Site and even some in cash!
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It isn't too late to donate - anything received now will go towards next year's Appeal or to one of our Outings in 2026. Donate to the GoFundMe here: https://www.gofundme.com/f/Readingfamilyaidtoysandteens2025

​We did go shopping too and purchased vouchers for the teenagers and gifts for teenagers, as well as sensory toys for children on the autistic spectrum. Smyths Toys kindly gave us a generous discount on items purchased from them.

The Recipients

We worked with schools, places of worship, social workers, health visitors and other charities in the area to identify families that met our criteria. These families will receive a sackful of gifts for their children.
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As Laura, our Appeal Manager said: "While our motto is 'Putting smiles on children's faces', our charity is Reading Family Aid and we do help the whole family. It takes a huge weight from the parents' shoulders and allows them the joy of being able to give their children some gifts on Christmas morning.". 
In a previous year one little person told her parish nurse, "I woke on Christmas day and Father Christmas came. I got presents in a sack which I knew came from Father Christmas, as my mummy had told me she couldn’t get us any this year.”

Collecting, Sorting, Packing and Delivering

On Saturday December 6th, our volunteer Van Men and Women collected three vans generously donated by Caversham Vehicle Hire and started the process of collecting tables donated from various church halls and organisations including 89th Scouts Group, St Anne's Church in Caversham, St Barnabas Church in Emmer Green, Caversham Hall and St Luke's Church in Reading. During the week they, with the help of various committee members and our Supporter Jan, went to all the Donation Points around town, plus various businesses, places of worship, and schools.  They also delivered the packed sacks and between the collections and deliveries drove for about 500 miles around Reading! This year, for the first time, we had help on the vans from Berkshire Freemasons, which made a huge difference - our thanks go out to them for this help on top of their existing toy donations.

Some of the donation points had so many donations that we had to do interim collections during the weeks leading up to the end of the Appeal. These were taken by committee members to Big Yellow Self Storage who donate a room for us.

Then the work of checking, sorting and packing up all the donations begins. This is all done with the help of an army of 105 volunteers, many from various businesses in the town, as well as individuals, some of whom have been coming for many years.

Every item is checked to make sure it is clean, complete, working, legal and if it needs batteries, all under the supervision of Sallie who has been in this role for more years than she can remember! This year was Sallie’s last year supervising the toy sorting though, as she is retiring from the Reading Family Aid Committee - we will miss her very much!

Sallie leaving the toy sorting hall for the last time!

​If it passes all the tests and, if needed, has batteries included or attached, it is placed on the tables that correspond to the item's age suitability. Tens of thousands of items and every single one checked for suitability.

Then other volunteers start to pack black sacks. Each sack will contain 4-6 items for each of three children. If we have plenty of items for a particular age group, then we provide more books and stocking fillers.

The sacks are then sorted for each requesting organisation and loaded onto a van for distribution.

Visitors to the hall

This year we were honoured to receive visits from Yuan Yang, MP for Earley and Woodley, and Mayor of Reading, Councillor Dr Alice Mpofu-Coles. They both took great interest in our sorting and packing process, and helped us with our publicity of the Appeal - thank you!

Taking a break

It is hard physical and mental work with much lifting, carrying and decision making! Everyone is sustained with drinks, cakes and biscuits and sandwiches for lunch - and a good natter! We are thankful to the kitchen volunteers who keep us fed and watered all week.

Above: George Kelleher, who will be running the London Marathon in April 2026 in support of Reading Family Aid, enjoying a drink and a chat with Committee member Carolyn.

​And finally a Massive Thank you!

Huge thanks to everyone that made it possible to put smiles on 2,676 children's faces this Christmas:

• all those that donated gifts and money
• all the businesses, libraries, community centres and schools that offered to be public donation points
• all the businesses, places of worship, schools and other organisations that organised in-house collections
• all those that volunteered to help in the hall and in the vans and especially Jan who does interim collections and stored a whole van full of gifts in her house! 
• all the companies that gave some of their staff a day off to help.
• all the organisations that loaned us tables
• and lastly but by no means least, all of our main sponsors whose ongoing support makes all this possible:

Caversham Vehicle Hire, who give us free use of several of their vans for the week so we can collect all the donations and deliver the packed sacks.

Procter & Gamble, who have donated a large amount of money that we can use to buy toys, gifts and essential supplies to run the Project, and supplied volunteers to sort and pack the gifts.
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Big Yellow Self Storage, who give us a free room so that we can store the early donations.

Trust ID, who have donated a large amount of money that we can use to buy toys, gifts and essential supplies to run the Project, and supplied volunteers to sort and pack the gifts.

The Reading Chronicle, who give us a full page each week of the Appeal where you can read our stories and get a full list of the donation points.

Enterprise Mobility, who have donated a large amount of money that we can use to buy toys, gifts and essential supplies to run the Project.

Berkshire Freemasons​, who generously donate several thousands of pounds worth of toys and gifts each year, and have helped on the vans this year.

Thanks to all of you and we'll do it all again next year!

Key Dates for 2026:

• Appeal Launch Date: Thursday 22nd October.
• ​Last day for donations: Saturday December 5th.
• Next year's Sorting and Packing Week: Sunday December 6th to Friday December 11th.