Reading Family Aid launch Toys & Teens 2021

The Annual Christmas Toys & Teens Appeal is back!
Reading Family Aid’s Toys and Teens Appeal returns for Christmas 2021. However, due to Covid-19, the charity has made the difficult decision to run the project virtually again, like last year. 
 
Winners of The Queen’s Award, Reading Family Aid, are asking their generous supporters from the local community to donate money on their Go Fund Me appeal rather than gifts.  This money will be used to buy new Christmas presents for deprived children in Reading, and delivered directly to the organisations that help them.  
 
Due to the incredibly generous donations received last year the charity was able to send new presents to over 1,400 children at Christmas time.  These are children who live in poverty, whose parents struggle to put food on the table and who worry annually about how they will continue to heat their homes over the winter months. 
 
Over the past 18 months lockdown has had a devastating impact, hitting poorer families the hardest.  In the UK alone 4.3 million children are living in poverty, equating to 9 in a classroom of 30.  In a survey of low-income families conducted in December 2020, six in ten families said they were struggling to cover the cost of basic essentials including food, utilities, rent and child-related costs.
Dealing with these struggles on a daily basis, Christmas is often another worry and financial burden that impoverished families face.  Out of the organisations Reading Family Aid supports there has been a 30% increase in requests for presents this year of over 2,500 children, showing the terrible impact Covid-19 has had. 
 
But the Toys and Teens Appeal is here to help.  Sponsored by The Chronicle and organised by Reading Family Aid, the charity is raising funds this year to buy new presents suitable for ages 0 – 16, to give to disadvantaged Reading families at Christmas time.
 
Ruth Perkins, volunteer from Reading Family Aid said “Imagine if your children or grandchildren had nothing to open on Christmas morning. Imagine having to tell them that Santa Claus wasn’t coming this year. Imagine how that would feel for both the children and the parents. Please help us to give these children the Christmas they deserve”. 
 
The impact of the appeal each year is overwhelming.  Last year Launchpad Reading sent the following message: ‘We are overwhelmed by people’s generosity. Because of you the families we support are going to have a brighter Christmas’.  Mums supported by the organisation Alana House also sent these messages of thanks ‘Thank you so much, having these gifts means less worry leading up to Christmas’, ‘I appreciate this so much, my kids are going to be so happy’, and ‘God bless you, the children will be so happy with what they get. This helped a lot’.
 
In 2020, the Toys and Teens Appeal delivered gifts to over 1,400 disadvantaged children in time for Christmas.  This year, please consider donating to this cause and share the below crowdfunding page on your social media.  Anything you can give, no matter how small will make a huge difference to these families at Christmas time.  Thank you. ​
The fundraising page will remain open until 4th December, after which the funds will be used to buy presents that will be sent directly to organisations and distributed to deprived children across Reading. There will be no donation points open this year due to Covid-19, however the charity are happy to accept direct donations of new or as-new toys - please email them to arrange collection or delivery.  Also, keep an eye out for exciting news on "pop-up" donation points in November!
 
To donate, please visit the Go Fund Me crowdfunding page:
https://www.gofundme.com/f/Reading-Family-Aid-Toys-and-Teens-21
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​For more information go to the Toys and Teens page of our website.

To arrange to have any toy donations collected email us.