Please vote for the Food Parcels Project!

Fund our local Food Parcels Projectby giving us your vote at Co-Op! Vote online or via their App. The voting link is here: https://membership.coop.co.uk/causes/76829

The Ash Villages Food Parcels Project serves local people in Ash, Ash Vale, Ash Green and Tongham. We deliver emergency food and toiletries to local people in crisis, and offer a listening ear. Your vote will mean we receive more funding. Thank you for your support.

How this cause brings people in the community together: Our Food Parcels project helps local people in crisis, providing emergency food and toiletries. Referrals come from CAB, Wellbeing Team, Social Services, DWP and local churches too. As well as food, we offer a listening ear, and help to connect people to other sources of help, including Chapel Cafe and local warm hubs. We are connecting with people to battle against the anxiety, isolation and mental strain that goes hand in hand with food poverty. We can all work together to make sure that none of our neighbours go hungry. Our donors and grant funders are wonderful and the lovely team of volunteers are amazing at what they do.

So please – Vote today, and spread the word to encourage others to help us too!

Thank you. https://membership.coop.co.uk/causes/76829

The Ash Villages Food Parcels Project is a joint project between St Mary’s Church in Ash Vale (Revd Neil Lambert) and the Ash Villages Support Circle (Carla Morson), kindly hosted at The Chapel Project on Wharf Rd. If you need to contact us you can contact our Project Manager Alex Sanderson on foodparcels@ash-vale.org.uk  Tel.: 07730 609446

Community Fridge News

The Ash Vale Community Fridge and Ash Villages Food Parcels Project team have some great news this week! We will be receiving short dated items from the 2 local Co-ops on Saturdays going forward, saving even more good food from being wasted. This is in addition to the donations we already receive regularly on Tuesdays and Thursdays. What a great way to stop waste!

If you’d like to visit the Community Fridge and pick up some free food to save it from being wasted, it’s open 24/7 in our Community Shed at The Chapel, Wharf Rd, GU12 5AY. First come first served. (Remember to update the red folder so we can track how much food we are saving from the bin!) please only take what you can definitely use, so everyone can share and nothing is wasted.

Got more than you need? You can also donate your own surplus food, as long as it is sealed in its original packaging, and in date (or fresh from the allotment!) Please update the red folder with date & weight when you donate, so we can track how much food is saved from the bin.

Did you know? From June 2023-December 2023 the Community Fridge alone saved over 1000kg food from being wasted! Thank you to everyone who uses the fridge, and to all our amazing donors and volunteers. 

Questions? Contact us on foodparcels@ash-vale.org.uk

Foodbank referrals: Please call our project manager to make a referral on 07730609446 

#CommunityFridge #AshValeCommunityFridge #AshVillagesFoodParcelsProject #EndHunger #StopFoodWaste #CoOpAsh #CoOpAshVale #Hubbub

Thank you – and please keep voting!

This is wonderful news! The local Food Parcels team would like to say a big thank you to everyone who voted for us recently on the Co-op Communtiy page! Your votes have helped us to raise £1,171.07 so far, to help feed local families in crisis.

Please keep voting! Every vote for St Mary’s means more funding for the Ash Villages Food Parcels Project. We need as many votes as possible before 24th October 2024, to secure further funding from the Co-op community fund for winter 2024. Please choose us as your local cause here: https://membership.coop.co.uk/causes/76829

Community Forum: Would you like to talk to the community team have your say? Co-op is hosting a community forum on 21st March at the Ash Parish Centre. Local people are welcome to join in and share their views. Book your place and join in to find out more by clicking on this link: Your local Coop Community forum for Ash and the surrounding villages (smartsurvey.co.uk)

Thank you for your support!

We need your Vote today!

Please can we ask you to give us your vote ASAP to help fund our vital Food Parcels Project, which feeds anyone in need in our local community of Ash, Ash Vale, Ash Green and Tongham. To find out more about the co-op community fund and how your vote can help, please click the link. https://membership.coop.co.uk/causes/76829

To find out more about the Food Parcels Project and how it all works click here and have a look at all our news and updates https://ash-vale.org.uk/foodparcels-2/

Vote today and please share this so others can vote too!

Thank you for your support – it makes all the difference!

Food Parcels – Could your business donate once a week?

A big ask today… are there any local business out there, who would consider becoming a regular donor and sponsoring one foodbank item each on a weekly basis, so about 25 of the same thing weekly (pick an item that resonates with you – cheese? Veg? Tins of beans? Coffee? Pasta? You could bring us the items to The Chapel each week, or donate the funds and we can do the shopping on your behalf.

In thanks for your generosity, we would be delighted to put your business name on our food parcels news online, and provide a letter of thanks for you to display as you see fit.

Interested? We would love to hear from you at foodparcels@ash-vale.org.uk or contact our project manager on 07730 609446. If you would like to know more about us, our project information and news is all online here: https://ash-vale.org.uk/foodparcels-2/

If you think you might have a contact who can help us, why not share this blog post with them? Thank you for your support!

If you are struggling to feed yourself and need a parcel you can be referred to us by Citizens Advice, schools, social services, DWP, health visitors, local churches and other agencies. We support anyine in need in Ash, Ash Vale, Ash Green and Tongham.

Lovely donations from Ash Vale Rainbows!

We would like to say a lovely big thank you to the wonderful Ash Vale Rainbows at St Mary’s, who have donated some brilliant things for the Food Parcels Project last week! So much thought has gone in to what you have given, it was lovely unpacking them all and popping them on the shelves ready to go out to local families in need.

The Ash Villages Food Parcels Project helps people in need in Ash, Ash Vale, Ash Green and Tongham. The donations you have made will make a big difference to local neighbours who are facing difficult times.

What a wonderful goup, thank you for your support!

Christmas Appeal – Ash Villages Food Parcels Project 2023

Christmas Appeal: The Ash Villages Food Parcels project will be packing and delivering food parcels for (we estimate) 40-50 families in Ash, Ash Vale, Ash Green and Tongham in the week before Christmas, and we like to send gifts for the children and Christmassy treats along with the emergency essentials if we can. Can you help? Anything our wonderful community can donate will be amazing, and add some lovely Christmas cheer to the parcels. We will share out whatever is received from the community between the families on our list on the day.

Need some inspiration? How about donating Christmas puddings, custard, mince pies, treats, crackers, nibbles, stuffing mix, gravy granules, cranberry sauce, sweets, nice toiletries, warm socks, gloves, tangerines, chocolate coins, children’s toys, board games, juice, squash, hot chocolate, pretty napkins… what ever you would you be pleased to receive if you were in need yourself. (We can’t take alcohol sorry!)

Dropping off donations: All items need to reach us at St Mary’s church (GU12 5JE) or at The Chapel (GU12 5AY) by Thursday 14th December please. Contact us if you need to book a time 07730 609446 or you can pop in to donate whenever we are open.

If you prefer to donate cash to help us buy each family the ingredients for a roast dinner, our link is here: https://givealittle.co/c/3ijYS6zC4gbOGqwer2tmdY

Thank you for your support and have a wonderful Christmas!

Chapel Apple Trees

Did you know? We have a wonderful horticulturalist at The Chapel, and she has inspired us to add some fruit trees to grow food for our community in future years. 

Here are 2 apple trees she planted on Monday. Imagine the toddler group picking their own fruit snack, and the food parcels team sharing out the harvest! Please pray for good roots, strong growth and lots of tasty apples! (And if anyone can spare a bag of manure to boost this community project we would love to receive it!)

We have been busy planting edibles elsewhere in the garden too. #PicnicAndPlay planted nasturtiums – lovely in salad! #Chapelkids have been busy, planting something every week all through the summer term. This week we will be harvesting Sunflower seeds for next year. #ChapelCafe planted herbs like mint, rosemary and thyme. Volunteers have planted fruit bushes too. 

We would like to say a big THANK YOU to the Co-op Community Fund who have been instrumental in supporting the community garden and all the food projects at The Chapel. #ItsWhatWeDo

What do you think we should plant next? Drop us a line in the comments and we will pass on your suggestions to our Project Manager (Facebook: @AshValeChapel) 

Harvest Thanks to everyone at St Mary’s!

The local Food Parcels team would like to say a big Harvest Festival *THANK YOU* to everyone at St Mary’s church, and everyone who dropped off their wonderful food donations for the harvest collection there.  This amazing generosity is what helps the project to keep going and enables us to keep helping families in need.  These donations are a big blessing.  

Thanks to Revd Neil Lambert, these lovely tins and packets, toiletries and treats have now been packed, collected and transported, and are now safely on the shelves at the #AshVillagesFoodParcelsProject and will go out in the food parcels in the next week or two. Thank you all so much for your support! It really matters, and every tin makes a difference. 

We wish you a blessed and happy Autumn!

#AshVillagesFoodParcelsProject