Please Help families like mine

Reading Family Aid’s Toys & Teens appeal is back for another year. And with the cost-of-living crisis having far-reaching consequences and more families than ever being plunged into poverty, one of the mums supported by the appeal explains what it means to her:
“I am a single mum of 3 children. My husband is in prison for assaulting us. I am finding it increasingly difficult to manage both financially and mentally. The Toys and Teens Appeal has helped me for a few years now. Each time they reach out to offer help and support, I just feel huge relief. My children wouldn't have a happy Christmas without them. They provide my 3 children with toys at a time when it is just expected to happen. The pressure as a parent with a low income is immense. It gives me anxiety worrying whether I can provide the day to day essentials like food, electricity, gas etc let alone worry if I can get what my children want or what their friends are all talking about for Christmas. But thanks to the Toys and Teens Appeal some of that pressure is removed.  I really don't know what I would do without them.
Please donate to this appeal if you can. It makes such a huge difference to families like mine. It means that my children can have presents at Christmas and tell their friends what they have had, rather than having to admit they have had nothing”.

---

Anna, a volunteer at Reading Family Aid, who is a mum herself, explains why she supports the appeal every year; “With two children myself, I understand how expensive life can be and how much parents want to do the right thing for their children. My children are in a much more fortunate position than many, so by helping at Reading Family Aid, I can give something back to my community and help other children who may not be so lucky. Reading seems like a prosperous town yet it has a significant amount of poverty and many families will be preparing to spend less this Christmas than they would like to. It’s heart-breaking to think that parents already know that gifts for their children will be unaffordable this year.
Each Christmas, the Toys and Teens Appeal helps ensure that children who would not otherwise receive a single present, have something to open on Christmas morning. Last year, over 2,500 children received a gift at Christmas, through the generous donations of supporters.
Please, if you can spare it, donate a present to the appeal this year, and drop it off at any of the 28 donation points listed below. Visit the charity’s Toy Donations page (www.readingfamilyaid.org/donate-toys.html) for details of how to donate toys and to find out what can (and can't) be used. Or if you can’t access a donation point, please consider donating to the charity’s GoFundMe appeal (https://gofund.me/5038d766). The money raised buys new presents for age groups that aren’t provided for.

Please help us to make Christmas joyful for families in desperate need this year. Thank you.  
 ​

---