Toys and Teens Week Three: Bringing Bright Smiles with Every Donation

Our Toys and Teens Appeal 2025 has now reached its third week. We’re heartened by the generosity of our community – but we also face an urgent reminder that the need remains greater than ever.
​
With referrals continuing to arrive from local schools, social workers and youth organisations, the charity expects that around 2,500 children aged 0–16 will be in need of a gift this Christmas. Due to the levels of poverty in Reading and the surrounding areas, these children may otherwise receive no gift at all.

For this year’s toy appeal volunteers are hard at work collecting and sorting new and nearly new toys from over 30 local donation points, ready to be distributed to families before Christmas Day.

One of the many generous supporters this year is local pensioner Kelvin Chaplin, who has lived in Reading for most of his life. Earlier this week he kindly donated a car boot full of brand-new toys to the appeal. 

Kelvin said:  “I use any spare money left over from my state pension each week to buy toys for the children with no Christmas presents. This is the second year I’ve done this. I read the stories in the Chronicle last year and thought my spare money was doing nothing sitting in the bank - so I might as well do some good with it.”

For Kelvin, the appeal represents something bigger than just gifts under a tree. “These days everyone’s looking at how much everything costs, and a lot of people can’t afford what they need, let alone what they’d like,” he said. “The world’s a very unstable place right now, and things aren’t going to get better any time soon. Helping local people is something we can all do. It makes me feel good and worthwhile”. 

Twenty-five years ago, Reading Family Aid supported around 400 children through its annual Toy Appeal. Today, that number has risen more than sixfold, a reminder that the cost-of-living crisis continues to affect many families across Berkshire.

We are especially mindful this week of the older children - the teens. Many donors naturally think of younger ages when shopping, but teenagers aged 13-16 tell us they feel overlooked. With your help, we want to ensure they receive something meaningful too: board games, art sets, sports gear, gift vouchers or thoughtful books are just some of the items that go down well.

Here’s how you can help this week:

• Drop off a new toy or gift (or “nearly new” in excellent condition) at one of our donation points in Reading and the surrounding towns.

 

• If you can’t drop off a physical gift, please consider donating online via our GoFundMe campaign so we can purchase suitable items for ages and genders that are currently under-represented.

 

• Schools, workplaces or clubs: please consider organising a mini-collection this week, adding a donation box to the front of your premises. Reading Family Aid are happy to collect any larger donations if you are unable to reach the local collection points - you might inspire others like Kelvin to turn spare change into Christmas smiles.

• For a list of suggested items to donate visit:

https://www.readingfamilyaid.org/what-to-donate.html

We’ll continue to highlight weekly stories from donors and recipients, to show how your support makes a real difference in local lives. Thank you to everyone who has donated so far - and to those planning to get involved this week.

Together, we can ensure no child in our community wakes up without a gift this Christmas. Every donation, big or small, helps make the season brighter for local families in need.

THANK YOU