We have achieved a lot together this year & are grateful to have you supporting us.
Trying to keep it short - we maintained our regular toiletries and groceries shifts bi-weekly and have started serving warm meals monthly again! The community meals have been a definite highlight of our year – serving food for up to 80 people is tiring and resource intensive but so incredibly rewarding. “The meal you provided was not just food; it was a message of love and hope that you delivered to us in an unforgettable way. (…) These moments will remain etched in our memories as some of the most beautiful days of our lives” - said a message we have received after our December meal from one of the service users.
There were also difficult moments – including the far-right riots fuelled by disinformation and racist, anti-immigration sentiments growing in the UK, as well as our friends becoming unhoused or at risk of being unhoused at the hands of our government policies. We have a duty to continue our mission of solidarity with asylum seekers who are escaping imperialist wars. We believe that no human is illegal. We believe that vulnerable people are being completely left behind in our system. We know that the industry of war is displacing human beings, desperate for refuge, and then being processed here like statistics for profit. And that's why the solidarity that powers us, every penny, every minute, every bag of rice we give and share as a community, is so beautiful. The work we do is a natural extension of our values.
In the next year, we want to continue improving our movement. We’re reflecting on how we can expand, be more efficient & improve the political dialogue we are able to have with the local community. We are reaching out to other mutual aid groups to collaborate and get better at what we do.
We are also organising a RRK social drinks at the Phantom Brewery on the 27th of December (at 16:00), which we are hoping some of you will be able to join. Please come by, say hello, share in our end-of-year joy & get involved with our organising.
If you are feeling generous, we welcome any donations as always (at https://opencollective.com/readingredkitchen)! Anything helps but monthly recurring donations (even small ones) help us manage the budget better. We have been steadily eating into our pot of money throughout the year & are only able to continue with your help. For more regular updates, please also follow us on Instagram at @readingredkitchen and Facebook & share with your friends.
Thanks for supporting us & we’d love to see more of you on shifts or outside of them if you are local to Reading.
