WINNER: READING KINDNESS ROCKS AND CISCO SPONSORED BY CHERUBS FLORAL DESIGNS
Reading Kindness Rocks (RKR) and Cisco were jointly given the Fundraiser of the Year award, sponsored by Cherubs Floral Designs.
It comes after the organisation collaborated on a project which saw members of the team at Cisco take 200 of the decorated stones provided by RKR to Spain as part of an initiative to raise funds for a breast screening machine for the Royal Berkshire Hospital.
Debor Baldree, who runs RKR, was joined by Georges Lalahy from Cisco, to collect the award.
RKR is a community group which spreads positivity and aims to inspire creativity, and
Ms Baldree said following the event: “To be part of the awards, especially on the 20th anniversary, is just amazing.
“There was such a fabulous atmosphere, everybody’s celebrating the town they live and work in.
“I was born and bred here, and having set up Reading Kindness Rocks nearly seven years ago showed that everybody needs to spread kindness and that you never know that the effect is going to have.
“Georges found one of the rocks two years ago through the Royal Berks Charity we support, which planted the seed for the extra funds he’s raised this year.”
Mr Lalahy said: “There’s a lot of incredible people in the room, and to feel like part of that group is really humbling.
“There are incredible stories, I’ve been amazed by so many people.
“I arrived here 25 years ago, we moved to Green Park and never left– and as part of integrating we started to work with the local community.
“And the culture mix is fantastic; I live on a street with a Chinese, and Indian, an African shop, and that leads to being able to get hold of incredible things, and speaks to a richness in the town.”
