St Andrew's Caversham Annual Meeting

On Sunday April 27th Ruth, our Fundraising Mgr attended the Annual Parish Committee Meeting at St Andrew's in Caversham and told them about the work of Reading Family Aid.
St. Andrew'a kindly adopted Reading Family Aid as their charity of the year and have and will involve them in several of their activities during the year.
There was the Autumn Tea Party last November where they raised £1200 for us, the Annual Parish meeting, a Mother's Union meeting in June and later in the month the Summer Tea Party. In October, the proceeds of the Thursday cafe will come to us too. We are very grateful for all their support.

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In her talk, Ruth described the situation that many families in the Reading area are finding them selves in, many becoming homeless and having to live for months in one room of a hotel.
A recent analysis of the situation in Reading's Museum exhibition called "Reading's DIGITAL Revolution" looked at how the arrival of high tech industries into the town has brought wealth to some but not all said:
"The economic impact of Reading's high tech success hasn't been shared evenly across town. Despite being home to some of the world's biggest technology names - and the investment it brings - Reading has some of England's most deprived neighbourhoods.
Reading has the highest proportion of children eligible for free school meals in Berkshire. Government statistics show that those receiving free school meal support achieve lower GCSE grades. This is an economic, as well as a social issue for Reading. A lack of qualified and skilled young people means firms are missing out on a more diverse local workforce. "
The report went on to suggest that this might ultimately mean the departure of the high tech industries either because of their inability to hire staff or because the town cannot meet the education and healthcare needs of their employees due to the public sector also having difficulties in recruiting.

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The talk was followed by a lively question and answer session where Ruth was able to elaborate on many points and explain why Reading Family Aid's motto of "Putting Smiles on Children's Faces" was so imprtant, not just to the children, but to the whole family.

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