A 40-year-old charity in Reading says the demand for helping to prevent homelessness in the town is "greater now than ever".

Launchpad is the town's leading homelessness charity, providing vital information and support for individuals, couples and families who don’t have a stable place to live or are at risk of losing their home.

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The charity helps thousands of people in Reading each year to get back on their feet, but the pandemic has seen new challenges as well as a greater need for its service.

Kirsti Wilson, head of fundraising, said: "We have seen a rise in demand in people needing us because we also help people who are at risk of becoming homeless.

"We aim to prevent people from getting to that point.

"In the first lockdown, homeless people were taken off the streets, but by October many were back, and more have needed our help.

"We continue to provide this - we are classed as essential so our support will always be there."

Launchpad's holistic service works in three ways – prevent homelessness, providing homes and rebuilding lives.

The important work they do has been put to the test since the outbreak of the pandemic, but the charity has managed to adjust to help those in need.

Reading Chronicle: PICTURED: Homeless man, stock imagePICTURED: Homeless man, stock image

"Obviously we need to be more careful, and we have so many new measures in place in terms of contact, hand sanitisers, masks and things like that.

"We take every precaution we can.

"It's a joint effort with foodbanks and other helplines.

"People who need housing are referred to us by the council and we work with them as needed." Kirsti said some government measures have been beneficial during the pandemic, such as the eviction ban which was brought in during the first lockdown and has now been put in place again.

"This gives us time to help people who are facing homelessness and have nobody to turn to.

"Our goal is to prevent it in the first instance, and we are expecting demand to continue to rise.

"We will just carry on carrying on as always.

"Fundraising throughout 2020 and this year so far has been really hard.

"We had to cancel lots of our usual events. We also usually have plenty of support from community groups which haven't been able to support us this year.

"But we updated our site at Christmas, which means we can now take donations online which we couldn't before."

Launchpad's annual pancake race has already had to be cancelled for this year - a town event which usually sees hundreds join in for a fun day.

Kirsti said the team are still planning to go ahead with the annual Big Sleep Out in October, an arrangements for these events are already being planned.

Reading Chronicle: PICTURED: Launchpad Pancake Race, 2020PICTURED: Launchpad Pancake Race, 2020

Launchpad's annual pancake race is usually a big town event

"Last year there was the option to join in virtually, which we will probably do again," Kirsti said.

"Luckily, we are never short of volunteers.

"During the pandemic they have been a big help with food deliveries which are vital at the moment.

"We have allotments run by volunteers to grow seasonal food for the foodbanks - it all joins up and each is an important element of what we do."

Sadly, Kirsti said the number of homeless people in Reading is continuing to rise.

She added: "The main message we'd like to put out is that we help all kinds of people in different situations - this could be students sofa surfing, single parents struggling or people having issues with landlords.

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"We make bespoke plans for each case, it isn't a one-size-fits-all approach." She added that the easiest way people can help is by sharing the charity's social media posts in order to get the word out to those who may need it.

Reading Chronicle: Launchpad's virtual Big Sleep Out from October 2020Launchpad's virtual Big Sleep Out from October 2020

Launchpad's virtual Big Sleep Out from October 2020

"We have also seen people being so generous with donations during the pandemic, as some are not spending as much on other things.

"Obviously this isn't possible for everyone - but any donation helps.

"I'd like to say thank you to all people who support us - the people of Reading are so incredible.

"Being a 40-year-old charity, we are well-known in the town, and people of the town are so generous."