Procter and Gamble in Reading adopted Reading Family Aid as one of their charities of the year and, as well as the company donating £3,000 they are encouraging the staff to engage with us.

The money raised by the staff was presented to us this week as a giant cheque at an event held in the canteen to publicise to the staff the work of RFA and, in particular, the Toys and Teens Appeal.
Huge thanks to all the staff at P&G for raising a total of £881.
They will follow this up with holding a gift collection for our Toys and Teens Appeal, focussing on children aged 10 and up.

St Barnabas Church in Emmer Green recently celebrated one hundred years since the foundation stone was laid for its present church building. There was a varied programme of Centenary Celebration events, and some of our Reading Family Aid committee were pleased to join in the celebrations by attending the Community Fair on Saturday 14 September.

We enjoyed meeting people and chatting to them about Reading Family Aid. Many thanks to St Barnabas Church for including us in this event, and to everyone who came and said hello to us!

On Sunday September 1st, Homestart Reading celebrated its 40th anniversary by having a party in Prospect Park.
Reading Family Aid would like to send may Congratulations to Homestart for doing such a fantastic job for so many years.

Wendy (left), our Chair, and Jo (right), our Governance expert, joined Kelly from Homestart in their celebrations.

On two separate days in August Reading Family Aid took a coachload of families to Bournemouth. On both occasions the sun shone and the families had a great time playing on the beach, in the waves and eating ice-cream.

One family with three children from one of the Children's Centres sent us a note to say thankyou. They had a lovely time having never been in the sea before. Another said they'd enjoyed fish and chips!

Another Mum from Wycliffe Methodist Church said "I had an incredible time, my children enjoyed it and each time we walk out of the door to go to the park or supermarket, they think we are taking a trip to Bournemouth. "! This family too had never been to the seaside before. 

Vivienne, right, our Outings Organiser who organised both Bournemouth trips with Anna, our Vice-Chair, who went along to help out. They managed to find a few minutes to relax on the beach!

On August 6th Reading Family Aid took a coachload of families to Beale Wildlife Park which is an outdoor wildlife park within 40 acres set against the River Thames in Berkshire. A home to an exciting mix of animals from all over the world and other attractions including play areas, a paddling pool and a train ride.

A family referred by the Weller Centre said: "The children had the best time at Beale park, really appreciate the tickets. It helped us out a lot, as days out with children is so expensive. Was an amazing learning experience and great fun."

And a family from Homestart said "It was such a lovely day - thank you. The children loved seeing all the animals." and the Homestart organiser said "From my point of view - it was a very positive time for some of our families connecting with each other. One mum was able to really spend some valuable, focussed time with her child - enjoying doing something together ."

And some were just having fun!

Committee members along to help on the day, from left to right, Jill, Vivienne (who organised the Outing) and Sheila

Some enjoyed the pool ...

And some the indoor areas ...

And some enjoyed the outside play areas ...

One of the organisations with families attending said: "Fifi's Vision C.I.C would like to give a big thank you to Reading Family Aid. I have no words that will describe my gratitude. Because of Reading Family Aid, I was able to invite many families within Fifi's Vision to an amazing day out at Camp Mohawk and they provided a coach which meant many more families were able to access the day out which otherwise they wouldn't have been able to. For some families this was their first time visiting Camp Mohawk and they were blown away. With peer support we all enjoyed the very much needed respite knowing it was a safe and secure  environment. Thank you Reading Family Aid and thank you Camp Mohawk from all of us at Fifi's Vision CIC.

Everyone had a great day having fun as a family or making new friends and some just enjoyed a quiet ramble in the woods on their own!

On Saturday August 3rd, Reading Family Aid had a two pitches at Earley Green Fair.  It was a warm and sunny day and thankfully the promised showers stayed away. 

The event was very well attended and our stall was busy from before the fair was officially opened to well after it officially finished! 

We raised £772 in all. so a fantastic day all round.

We are pleased to report that the staff of BH&P achieved their target of walking 1,000 miles in a couple of weeks, and in so doing raised over £1,000 for Reading Family Aid.

The walking culminated in a walk from Marlow to Henley along the river on a gloriously warm and sunny day at the end of July. Several RFA team members joined them on the day.

Huge thanks to Becky, Claus, Hasan and the rest of the team for an amazing donation to RFA's work.

If you would still like to donate towards the cause the GoFundMe page is still open here.

BH&P, a local Reading creative marketing company, have challenged themselves to raise £1,000 by walking 1,000 miles in July culminating in a walk from Marlow to Henley for many of the staff. They are doing this in support of Reading Family Aid.

If you would like to sponsor them, please click here and help us with adding to those smiles on children's faces.