Christmas is a wonderful time of year but for many, the financial burden can make it a very difficult time. Last year, many of the organisations who refer to us asked for additional support for vulnerable families over the Christmas period. To help make Chrsitmas special for these families, we gave out 1200 sacks (which were made from beautiful Christmas fabric by our team of craft volunteers) containing presents. Each childrens sack included a main present, smaller presents including crafts activities, a book, a chocolate selection pack and some stocking fillers. We also gave presents to other groups including Care Leavers (who have little or no family support) and the local homeless community. In total, we provided around 10,000 presents to individuals and families in need. They were wrapped by our team of volunteer elves and delivered by our team of volunteer drivers. We had a huge amount of support from the public and local businesses and together, we helped make Christmas a very special time for children in hardship across Berkshire.

We have just launched this years Christmas Appeal and we anticipate the demand being even higher than last year. We really need your help with buying the toys and gifts for the Christmas sacks and any donation, no matter how small, will go a long way to making a difference and making Christmas special for vulnerable children in our community. Many of the families we are supporting have made special requests for certain gifts and so we also have a wishlist from which you can choose a gift if you prefer to support in this way. The link can be found on our website. Please help us if you can.