Toys and Teens Continues!

Reading Family Aid’s Toys and Teens Appeal returns for Christmas 2021. 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. This money will be used to buy new Christmas presents for deprived children in Reading and delivered directly to the organisations that help them. Kelvin Husbands runs Grassrootz a community club based in Coley, Reading that provides a safe place for children aged 7 – 16 to play after school that we supported with equipment and toys. He said "You don’t understand the importance and impact you’ll be having on that child’s life. It could make their Christmas. "
Read the full article below and watch the amazing video.​

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£35. 
Imagine if, after paying your rent / mortgage and utilities, you had just £35 left for the week.  It's not much is it?  That's what one of our families has to live on - a mum with 3 growing children.  That's £1.25 a day each.

That's not even enough money for food, never mind clothes, shoes, school uniform, bus fares, phone, internet.  So days out and holidays are obviously unthinkable.  And of course Christmas presents are an impossible challenge.
 
And this family are by no means unique.  Reading seems such an affluent town.  But in fact it has some of the most deprived areas of the country.  More than 10,000 children living in the Reading area are living in poverty.  There are many reasons why they find themselves in this situation: the parents can't get work, they are one parent families and can’t afford child care so can't work, they might suffer from drug and alcohol abuse, illness and disability of the parents or the children; they may be refugees; they may be homeless; they may have suffered from an abusive partner and had to escape with nothing. 
 
Kelvin Husbands runs Grassrootz a community club based in Coley, Reading that provides a safe place for children aged 7 – 16 to play after school.  The club has been supported by Reading Family Aid in the past with toys for the children, and this year the charity is hoping to raise enough funds to give every member of the club a Christmas present. 
 
Kelvin said: “Sometimes we forget there are people that are less privileged than we are. I know from doing what we’re doing some people don’t like to ask for help. There’s a lot of people who don’t have much, they have very little. Having a gift to take home will make such a big difference to the children and young people we look after. You don’t understand the importance and impact you’ll be having on that child’s life. It could make their Christmas.   
 
Danielle Reid, a volunteer from Grassrootz said “Because of the wide range of children who come here some children may not get that at Christmas, they may not have presents. To leave our club with something, at least we know all the children have been given something at Christmas and they have something to cherish. So please if you could donate something for the children it would be most appreciated”.  
 
This is where Reading Family Aid and our massive Toys and Teens Appeal comes in. Our goal is to try to raise enough money and collect enough toys and gifts so that every Reading family has at least one present for each of their children. 
Next time you go out for a meal or a few drinks and spend around £35 spare a thought for the 2000 - 3000 families in Reading who are having to make that £35 last all week.
 
Or when you stop off at your favourite coffee shop for a latte or cappucino, think that many Reading people would have to make that money last for nearly two days.

Please donate here on our GoFundMe site.
Every single pound that you donate will go towards putting smiles on more faces of Reading's disadvantaged children.
 
Alternatively, bring toys to one of our pop-up donation points: Saturday 20 November 11:00 - 15:00 Woodley Town Centre Precinct, Headley Road, Woodley, Reading RG5 4JZ
Sunday 14 November 11:00 - 15:00 Big Yellow Self Storage, Rose Kiln Lane, Reading, RG2 0JZ
Saturday 27 November 11:00 - 15:00 Tesco Extra, Portman Road, Reading RG30 1AWOr donate at Lower Earley Library, Chalfont Close, Earley, Reading RG6 5HZ anytime until December 4th during opening hours 09:30 - 17:00 (19:00 on Thursdays, 16:30 on Saturdays, closed Wednesdays and Sundays).
We have had requests for more than 2,500 children.  So far, we've raised about £2500.  There's a long way to go!
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. 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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