collections Placing collecting tins in public places Holding a "Brew for the Few" tea party Manning stalls at public events such as airshows and church fairs Sponsored challenge events Taking part in the Wings Lotto Grand Draw & Wings Lotto weekly competitions Welfare The kind of welfare support provided by the RAF Association is wide-ranging: everything from providing home visits and respite care breaks, to offering advice and, in some circumstances, financial assistance in times of difficulty. In a typical year, these are some of the ways the RAF Association helps Servicemen and women, past and present. Over 74,000 members offering friendship and support Supporting over 85,000 beneficiaries in 2018 Helping to secure more than £550,000 in pension and compensation claims for those facing financial hardship Provide much needed respite care breaks for around 2,500 guests in their WIngs Breaks hotels The Storybook Wings initiative helps keep families connected for more than 95,000 days by helping a serving parent record a bedtime story Through the RAF Families Federation the RAF Association gives RAF personnel and their families the chance to influence future policy Over 10,000 serving personnel every month log on to the free wifi provision across 43 sites and 82 contact houses keeping the RAF family connected with family and friends The RAF Association distributes more than £3.1 million in welfare grants to serving and ex-serving personnel 68 partners have been trained as childminders as a pilot programme at RAF Benson, RAF Waddington, RAF Cranwell, RAF Wittering, RAF Scampton and RAF Coningsby a full extension of this programme is planned in 2019 The RAF Association trains all of its welfare volunteers to a nationally accredited standard. They are using the Short Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Wellbeing Scale (SWEMWS) to measure the impact of their casework. Since 2018 the RAF Association have trained and deployed some 500 befrienders who have befriended a wide range of former RAF personnel - almost 25,000 hours of volunteer work in 2018. Storybook Wings Storybook Wings enables parents to record bedtime stories, along with personal messages, for their children to listen to while they are away. The RAF Association provides recording equipment to parents for them to record their chosen stories. Thanks to donations received from members and the general public the association is able to fund the special editing and sound mixing equipment needed by our volunteer editors. Once edited, a soundtrack is added to give