THE Christmas Toys and Teens Appeal, organised by Reading Family Aid, will be slightly different this year due to the pandemic.

In order to protect volunteers, and supporters, the charity has decided not to open up donation points.

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In its place the charity has set up a fundraising page and is asking you to donate money instead of gifts. This money will then be used to buy new Christmas presents for disadvantaged children in Reading, which will be delivered directly to the organisations that help them.

The charity explained figures show 28.6 per cent and 27.3 per cent of children are classified as living in poverty in Reading West and Reading East respectively.

This equates to over 15,000 locally affected children.

Christmas for many families is a time for celebration, giving and happiness but for those living in poverty, it is often a time of worry, stress and guilt.

Jeanie Herbert is a Manager at Alana House.

The organisation helps to distribute toys from the charity’s Christmas appeal to families in need.

She said: “The additional cost of Christmas looms large and some parents see in advance that they will struggle to provide for their children.

“Families are suffering behind closed doors.

“Some are struggling to feed their children.

“Parents have faced ongoing stress and children will have also felt the impact of this.

“For people to help with the toy project and bring some normality to families this Christmas in a very strange year, would be a huge blessing to many.”

In 2019 Reading Family Aid delivered presents to more than 2,000 children, an increase of 300 on the previous year.

As well as donating, the charity would be incredibly grateful if you considered holding a fundraising event.

You could organise a ‘mufti day’ at school or the office, a pyjama day for your ‘Zoom’ meetings, or share our crowdfunding page on your social media.

The charity explained anything you can give, no matter how small will make a huge difference to these families at Christmas time.

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The fundraising page will remain open until December 4.

At this point, the funds will be used to buy presents that will be sent directly to organisations and distributed to deprived children across Reading.

The charity also thanked its sponsors: Berkshire Freemasons, Big Yellow and Caversham Vehicle Hire.