 On Monday 28th October our Chair, Wendy Howell, attended a meeting of the Thames Valley Flower Club.
The Club which is based in Calcot, has been fundraising for us for the past 2 years. They raise funds through raffles, book sales, flower arranging competitions, coffee mornings and donations. Last year they donated £600 and this year Wendy was presented with a cheque by Sheila Bryant, a Committee Member, for a fantastic £700! Many thanks to all the members that have contributed.  Reading Family Aid’s Toys & Teens appeal is back for another year, sponsored by The Reading Chronicle. This year the appeal is accepting new and nearly new toys at 26 donation points across Reading and the surrounding areas. These toys and gifts will be distributed to disadvantaged children in Reading and the surrounding area, ready to be opened on Christmas day.  A mother who benefited from the appeal last year shared her experience: “I am a single mum with 3 children aged 9, 12, and 16. I am also responsible for my father, who has early onset dementia and is currently ill in the hospital. I work two jobs, one during the day and another in the evening. I feel exhausted all the time and feel like I can’t give my children the time they deserve. On top of that, no matter how hard I work, I never have enough money. I am constantly in debt with bills I can't pay. I am never able to buy the extra treats at the supermarket and I am telling my children 'no' all the time. Christmas is a hard time for me. I dread it. I feel like I can't give my children what I want to give them and what they deserve. Most people look forward to Christmas, but for me, it’s a reminder of what my children miss out on.”  Reading Mayor Councillor Glenn Dennis officially launched this year’s appeal today. He said, “I am so pleased to be launching the incredibly important Toys and Teens Appeal this year. The appeal supports children from really poor backgrounds whose families don’t have the means to provide them with a present at Christmas. The appeal steps in and fills that gap.” He added, “People aren’t going to advertise to you that they are really struggling. They have pride. But as a Councillor, I am in contact with families who are so poor, they won’t be able to afford any presents this Christmas. Please support the appeal by donating gifts at any of the donation points in Reading. Thank you.”  Last year, the appeal faced challenges in gathering enough donations for teenagers aged 13 and over. The charity urges supporters to consider this age group and think about giving new or nearly new gifts for teenagers, as they are often overlooked during the holiday season. Suggested gifts include board games, makeup kits, art sets, or gift cards. For more ideas, please see this detailed list for this age group or this full list for all ages.  The Toys and Teens Appeal 2024 will be collecting donated new and nearly new toys from donation drop off points, as well as using funds from the Go Fund Me online to buy gifts for children to open on Christmas day. To support the campaign you can donate a gift to the drop off points - more details on what can be donated can be found here. If you cannot donate a gift the campaign also has an online GoFundMe page to help buy new presents for age groups that receive less donations each year.
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.  In the Summer the the staff organised a party for themselves and their families to which everyone had to pay to attend. There was food, drink and fun activities. RFA and representatives of the other charities attended and joined in.  Carolyn and Ruth from RFA receiving the cheque from Ciara Clarke, one of the staff members responsible for liaising with the charities. 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!  Sallie, Sue and Jill from the Reading Family Aid committee enjoying the sunshine  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. Reading Refugee Support Group said "I would like to thank you for your hard job for those who are really in need as well as the previous journey to Bournemouth was great. We received emails from our clients saying thank you and being really satisfied .  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  On August 8th Reading Family Aid took a large group of families with neurodiverse children to Camp Mohawk. The centre is in a beautiful setting in the woods above Wargrave and provides indoor and outdoor play and sensory areas as well as a heated pool. The families were referred from various organisations in the Reading area. The outing was funded by The Berkshire Nurses & Relief in Sickness Trust and Reading Dispensary Trust. Our grateful thanks got to them for their generosity. As well as the standard facilities on site we also arranged for a petting zoo to be there. 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.  We were selling second hand children's books, puzzles, games and toys as well as adult books and puzzles.  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 also had a raffle for some lovely hampers created by our raffle wizard Wendy! She is pictured here with some of the raffle prizes and Earley's Mayor, Mike Smith  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.
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