Food Parcels Project & Community Fridge

Welcome to the Ash Villages Food Parcels Project and Ash Vale Community Fridge

The Ash Vale Community Fridge …

…is open to all, 24/7 and you can find it at The Chapel project in our Community Shed in the car park. We are on Wharf Road, GU12 5AY. Give what you can, take what you need. It’s for everyone in the community, to reduce food waste. (more news in the blog posts below) #AshValeCommunityFridge

How To Donate

We operate under St Mary’s church charity number 1152717 and rely entirely on donations of food and funds to support local people in need. You can donate here to support this important work:

https://givealittle.co/campaigns/7a47190c-ad4e-4cf9-8662-da844101a41c

The Ash Villages Food Parcels Project started as a covid-19 support initiative but is now essentially a Community Food Bank covering Ash, Ash Vale, Ash Green and Tongham. You can be referred for a parcel by Citizens Advice, Schools, Social Services, Homestart, DWP and local churches etc. (more news in the blog posts below).

Both of these amazing initiatives are delivered by a wonderful team of local volunteers. The projects are jointly run by St Mary’s Church Ash Vale and Ash Villages Support Circle, and kindly hosted by The Chapel Project (former Methodist church) on Wharf Rd GU12 5AY #AshVillagesFoodParcelsProject


Thank You!

We are delighted to share that we have just had news of funding from the Community Organisations Cost of Living Fund delivered by The National Lottery Community Fund, which will be helping us to deliver the Food Parcels Project over the next few months up to 24th March 2024. Thanks to the Government for making this possible.

The Community Fridge project was generously funded by Hubbub who enabled us to purchase the Community Fridge and the Community Shed and set everything up. Would you like to know more about their network of community fridges? Have a look on their site here: https://hubbub.org.uk/community-fridge-network

We are hugely grateful to Surrey County Council Community Fund, SPARKS, Ash Parish Council, Co-op Community Fund, private donors, generous neighbours, and amazing churches, businesses, schools and community groups who have all contributed funds or items, and made this very important work possible. We are hugely endebted to Co-op, Tesco and Bookers for their donations of fresh food items each week, and our army of awesome volunteers who make it all happen. (Scroll down in the news section below to see more about our supporters, the team and what we do!).


Ash Villages Food Parcels & Community Fridge News:

  • Christmas Foodbank Appeal 2024
    It’s nearly time for our lovely team at the #AshVillagesFoodParcelsProject to pack the Christmas parcels and take some festive cheer to local people in need. Your help and support with donations, funds, prayers and sharing this appeal far and wide would be greatly appreciated! If you would like to donate food, toys or gifts , …
  • Thank you to the Cubs!
    The foodbank team would like to say a very big thank you to the local Cub Scouts who visited tonight. They brought some wonderful, thoughtful donations, decorated our Foodbank Christmas tree and came up with some super ideas for a foodbank recipe book. You are very welcome to pop back to the Chapel for the …
  • 32 seconds to help your local foodbank
    Can you spare 32 seconds to dwnload the “Bank The Food” app onto your smartphone, and find out what your local foodbank most needs? #BankTheFood #32seconds #AshVillagesFoodParcelsProject Thank you! Here’s the link to find out more and download the app: https://www.bankthefood.org Here’s the link to the video: https://youtu.be/eHWx1F5Rdmk Thank you for your support!
  • Christmas events 2024
    Christmas Invitation from St Mary’s 2024 You’re invited! Saturday 30th Nov—Christmas at The Chapel (Wharf Rd) 14:00-16:30 Join us for festive fun, cake sale, hotdogs, raffle, free kids craft, toys, tombola, books, and more. Saturday 7th December St Nicholas Day Lantern Walk (time slots 16:30 / 17:00 / 17:30): An atmospheric lantern walk from The …
  • Donations Links
    Happy half term everyone! We hope you have enjoyed all our groups, events and services this half term. Here’s the donations link if you would like to chip in! Thank you for helping us to keep the doors open so we can serve our community. 💕  https://givealittle.co/c/75npOYB3aZl4vFFBN2Ve3p You can also donate at our events and …
  • Christmas Foodbank Parcels 2024
    Would you like to support the Ash Villages Food Parcels Project this Christmas? We are appealing for Christmas essentials ( veggies, potatoes, chickens or trukeys, gravy granules), Christmas treats (biscuits, mince pies, puddings, custard, crisps, crackers, sweets, etc), winter warmers for the adults (hot water bottles, gloves, hats, socks, blankets etc),  and new toys & …
  • Harvest Letter from the Foodbank Team
    Ash Villages Food Parcels Project & Ash Vale Community Fridge Did you know we have our own local foodbank based at the Chapel? The Ash Villages Food Parcels Project is here to help anyone who is struggling in Ash, Ash Vale, Ash Green and Tongham. What originally started during Covid as a crisis project has …
  • Harvest thanks to the Monday Beavers!
    The Ash Villages Food Parcels Project team would like to say a big THANK YOU to the lovely 1st Ash Vale Beavers ‘Monday Group’ who visited us at The Chapel this week. We really appreciate all your wonderful donations, which filled up the donation boxes as you arrived. What a lot of goodies for the …
  • Harvest Appeal for our local Foodbank
    Please support your local foodbank this harvest! We help people in crisis in Ash, Ash Vale, Ash Green and Tongham. Donations can be brought to St Mary’s for the harvest festival service this Sunday 6th Oct at 10:30am, or leave your gifts in our foyer whenever we are open. (Or contact us to arrange another …
  • A big Harvest Thank You to the 1st Ash Vale Beavers!
    The Ash Villages Food Parcels Project team would like to say a big THANK YOU to the lovely 1st Ash Vale Beavers! We are super grateful for all your wonderful donations, which filled up the donation boxes at St Mary’s on Tuesday. All these things that you donated will go out in the Food Bank …