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 Huge thanks to Reading Rotary Club and to everyone who took part in last year's ROC Search Reading Charity Santa Run. We are very grateful to have just received a cheque for £4,000, which will go towards our Big Summer Outing! Thanks to everyone's efforts at least 200 local disadvantaged children (and their families) will have a great day out, with loads of excitement and fun.
 RFA Chair Wendy Howell and Vice Chair Ruth Perkins were thrilled to receive a cheque for £1500 from the Berkshire Masonic Charity recently, during a visit to the Berkshire Masonic Centre in Sindlesham.
Freemasons from all over Berkshire have contributed to this very generous donation, the money will go towards our upcoming Easter outing to Odds Farm for two coaches of families referred via Homestart. The cheque was presented to Wendy by Mark Hepplethwaite, supported by David Jarvis and Roy Stone who also do so much for our Toys and Teens Appeal. Thank you Berkshire Freemasons! We are currently looking for a volunteer Family Outings Organiser and a volunteer Christmas Toy Project Request Administrator to join our friendly committee.
Both roles would suit part time or recently retired Project Managers, Business Professionals, or Administrators. For more information please click here  Reading Family Aid’s Toys & Teens Appeal has now finished for 2017, and we are over the moon to report that it’s been another hugely successful year!
Thanks to the immense generosity of the people of Reading, this year we were able to give gifts to 1,400 children from 600 local families, helping to make their Christmases a little happier. We had 31 public donation points situated all over the Reading area, collecting toys from the general public during the period 19 October – 4 December. In addition to this, a record number of businesses, offices, schools, faith and social groups organised their own collections. All in all we estimate we received over 10,000 quality toy donations and filled well over 700 sacks full of toys! With the help of 135 volunteers (including the Mayor!) and a team of 15 van men to collect, sort and pack up the toys, we were able to ensure the gifts were delivered to families, via their social workers, health visitors etc. in time for Christmas. Reading Family Aid Chair, Wendy Howell commented: “We were absolutely overwhelmed by the generosity of the people of Reading this year. Thanks to the support of each and every individual, company, school, faith and social group who donated to the Toys & Teens appeal we were able to provide over 1,400 local children with quality gifts in time for Christmas. We are also hugely thankful for the support of our sponsors, to all of the many Donation Points for taking in the toy donations, and to the many many volunteers, whose help during the toy packing week was absolutely essential. We wish everyone a very Happy Christmas!”  Thank you to everyone who supported the Reading Family Aid stall at Earley Green Fair earlier this month. Despite the thunder and rain we had really good turn out and managed to make £853.34! Fantastic!
 Huge thanks to David Jarvis - the Provincial Almoner from The Berkshire Freemasons - for attending our AGM last week.
The Berkshire Freemasons have been huge supporters of our Toy Project and it was really interesting to find out from David what Freemasonry was all about, and in particular the charitable work that they undertake. The Freemasons goal is to relieve poverty and distress in the community, through cash donations for specific projects or to individuals. Money is raised solely from the donations of its members. David surprised us all by presenting our Chair Wendy Howell with a cheque for £1,780 for our 2018 Camp Mohawk Outing! Thank you to all the Berkshire Freemasons! This incredibly generous donation will make such a difference to so many local families living in poverty. Next week sees the launch of the 2016 Reading Family Aid Toys & Teens Appeal. This annual appeal brings a little hope and happiness to local families living in desperate need, at a time of year when many feel lost and forgotten about.
The charity’s Toys & Teens Appeal collects and redistributes new or as new toys at Christmas to disadvantaged families who have been nominated by social workers and support organisations across the Reading area. All toys are generously donated by individuals, businesses, schools, churches etc. and dropped at local donation points; from Theale to Twyford and from Winnersh & Emmer Green to Shinfield. The donation points will open on Thursday 20th October and remain open until Sunday 4th December, after which scores of volunteers will sort, pack & deliver over 10,000 donated items to their grateful recipients. None of this would be possible without the support of local volunteers and businesses such as Big Yellow who provide free storage facilities and Rabbits who provide vans to deliver all of the gifts. In 2015, Reading Family Aid’s Toys & Teens Appeal delivered gifts to 1,500 disadvantaged children from over 600 families, and with the help of the local community it aims to extend its reach even further this year. More information on how you can support Reading Family Aid’s Toys & Teens appeal, including where to donate, can be found on our website or follow us on twitter @RdgFamilyAid or Facebook. If you would like to get involved with volunteering, please contact us at info@ReadingFamilyAid.org Following some successful fundraising at the Winnersh Summer Fete in July (see our previous blog post), we would like to thank Winnersh Parish Council for their generous donation of £500. The cheque was presented to Wendy Howell, RFA Chair by John Southgate, Vice-Chair of the council.  August 6th, the day of Earley Green Fair unusually dawned with clear blue sky and sun forecast for the whole day. Hurrah! We were unloading the cars by 8.15 and an hour later we were all set to go with a good selection of toys, children's and adult books, adult jigsaws, bric-a-brac, children's clothes and a fantastic Tombola.  Our supporter, Seve Mardell, set up his display of delicious jams, marmalade and chutneys.  Business started early with brisk trade particularly on the toys, jigsaws, jams and books. Many people had a go on the Tombola and went away with brilliant prizes, although not always with what they had their eye on - although that often brought them back for another try! The sun shone, it got warmer and warmer, and the ice cream van did brisk trade with us taking it turns to seek a rest in the shade.  A great day with over £800 being raised with the money going towards this year's Toys and Teens. Huge thanks to everyone that visited us!   We are thrilled to have been nominated for two Pride of Reading awards this year. Reading Family Aid has been nominated as 2016 Charity of the Year and Sallie and Ruth have been nominated as Community Champions.
Thank you to Heather Key for nominating us for these awards. Heather works at Interserve and has been volunteering for Reading Family Aid for several years. Read more about the Pride of Reading award nominations. |
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