THE CEO of Reading’s leading homelessness prevention charity, Launchpad, has spoken out about the importance of the community at this time.

Ian Caren writes:

What has always struck me about Reading is that despite its size, our town has an incredibly close-knit community.

For the 14 years I’ve been CEO of Launchpad, I’ve witnessed unbelievable kindness and generosity from residents, businesses, schools, universities and community groups. They rally around us, their local homelessness prevention charity, and support in whatever way they can - with a donation, by volunteering, by clicking like or share on Facebook, or by taking on all manner of weird and wonderful challenges.

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And it’s not just the supporters that foster a sense of community and belonging - the local services in Reading work together extremely closely and effectively, which isn’t always the case in other towns.

When it comes to housing and homelessness, Salvation Army, Reading Borough Council, St Mungo’s, CIRDIC, Probation, Readifood and Launchpad are just a few of the organisations that are in constant communication week in, week out to offer a lifeline to individuals, couples and families in need.

In Reading we are lucky to have such a strong community - and in such strange and difficult times, never has it been so important.

As you can probably guess, in recent weeks, community and team work have played an increasingly crucial role in how we operate.

We have been working tirelessly with our partner services to ensure Launchpad clients – who are among the most vulnerable people in Reading during the pandemic - have things like a warm bed and hot meals, the ability to wash their clothes and access to their medication.

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Because we know there are so many people struggling at the moment, we opened our ‘here for you’ telephone service for absolutely anyone in need in our community – including those who are self-isolating or social distancing and feeling lonely; people who need support with practical issues; and those who feel concerned about the future and their loved ones.

And we have had amazing offers of support from local people so we can continue our vital services – from Alan who doubled his monthly donation to us as soon as Reading started feeling the effects of the outbreak, to Rebecca who came to the door to deliver a £60 cheque.

When many things in this world are currently uncertain, I am certain of one thing - it is community that will see us through.

To support Launchpad’s emergency appeal so they can continue caring for local people in crisis over the coming weeks, and as the pandemic worsens, visit www.launchpadreading.org.uk/covid19.