Reading, Berkshire ~ Services
PACT has been building and strengthening families across the Thames Valley for nearly 100 years.

About us:

We support thousands of families every year through our community projects across Berkshire, Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire and our role as a voluntary adoption agency, specialising in both domestic and intercountry adoption, permanent and short break fostering, dual approval and post-adoption support.

We have a long history of recruiting families and placing children with them. Our adoption services began in the early 1950s and permanent fostering services developed more recently. We are registered to provide adoption, fostering and adoption support services.

Our offices are in Reading and London and we recruit families from across the South of England or from local authority areas which have contracted us to provide an intercountry services.

There are around 60,000 children in care in the UK so if you think you might have what it takes to become an Adoptive Parent or Foster Carer then please visit our website or contact PACT now for more information and an informal chat with one of our social workers.

Contact Details:

PACT (Parents And Children Together)
7 Southern Court
South Street
Reading
Berkshire
RG1 4QS

Telephone: 0118 938 7600

Reading, Berkshire ~ Services
Providing expert and confidential advice, guidance and personal development services to ages 13-19.

About us:

Have you ever needed some advice, or just wanted someone to talk to? But the problem is your best mate can’t tell you anything you don’t already know and you don’t feel you can speak to anyone else? Well.why not try Connexions, the service that is all about connecting every single 13 to 19 year old to all the things you need to know.

Connexions Personal Advisers (or PAs) can advise you on everything from jobs and education to housing or drugs. They can also put you in touch with specialist help if you need it. PAs are your link to a huge range of services that you may never have known about, including things to do with education, careers, social services and health as well as voluntary and community organisations.

The PAs come from all walks of life. Many have been recruited by panels that include young people, so they’ll be the kind of people you feel comfortable talking to. You can get in touch with a PA in a number of ways: PAs are located at Connexions Centres across Berkshire, at your school or college, or at the end of a phone line, so getting in touch is easy.

Contact Details:

Reading Connexions Centre
136/7 Friar Street
Reading
Berkshire
RG1 1EX

Telephone: 0845 408 5004

Reading, Berkshire ~ Services
The Foundation is committed to helping you make a lasting impact in your local community.

About us:

Since 1985, the Foundation has been building a Community Capital Fund to provide grants to small voluntary groups that tackle need at the grassroots of our local community, both now and in the future.

Donations from individuals, companies and Charitable Trusts are pooled in the Foundation’s Community Capital Fund from which the Foundation draws income to make its grants. Simple really! This also means that your donation works year after year generating income for grant making year on year on year…

Our main grant making is directed to:

* The elderly
* Children and young people
* People with a long-term illness or disability, and their carers
* People with mental health needs
* Minority ethnic communities
* Those suffering from addiction

The Foundation aims to support the smaller groups who are doing vital work but who have real difficulties in raising funds.

Significant Pockets of Deprivation in Berkshire

The county has two different aspects: rural West Berkshire where the problems are associated with social isolation, with issues such as transport for people without cars.

Those affected are often disadvantaged in other ways – elderly, disabled, young or seeking employment. East Berkshire is the more urbanised area, with pockets of unemployment, deprivation and poor educational attainment and more “inner city” issues.

The Foundation is aware of the detailed issues facing each local authority and uses the research-based Community Needs Survey* as the context for grant making.

We always have to prioritise and make difficult decisions as we have many more applicants than we can fund.

The Foundation is a very flexible instrument for local charitable giving. People give for a wide range of personal reasons and the Foundation is geared to meeting whatever a donor’s wishes are.

The donation can be a single payment, a legacy, or spread over several years and it can also be a Gift of Shares or Property. Whatever the donation is, it can be geared to address a particular issue, such as older people or people with a disability, for a particular geographical locality or left to the Community Foundation to utilise in addressing the priority needs it has identified in its Community Needs Survey. The Foundation can help donors make their decisions and to set up a Named Fund to address the issues they stipulate, with whatever degree of control they wish.

Contact Details:

Berkshire Community Foundation
Arlington Business Park
Theale
Reading
Berkshire
RG7 4SA

Telephone: 0118 930 3021

Reading, Berkshire ~ Services
Confidential non-judgemental emotional support, 24 hours a day

About us:

Samaritans provides confidential non-judgemental emotional support, 24 hours a day for people who are experiencing feelings of distress or despair, including those which could lead to suicide.

Whatever you’re going through, whether it’s big or small, don’t bottle it up. We are here for you if you’re worried about something, feel upset or confused, or just want to talk to someone.

We offer our service by telephone, email, and face to face: see our main website for details, including information about other nearby branches.

We are also always in need of new volunteers – ordinary people who, with the right support and training, can help us provide this vital service 24 hours a day. Just call!

Contact Details:

Reading Samaritans
59a Cholmeley Road
Reading
Berkshire
RG1 3NB

Telephone: 0118 926 6333