By Alexandra Sanderson
We had a lovely enquiry today. A kind local resident keen to help the Ash Villages Food Parcels Project and wanting to know what items to give. He is not on social media, so needed a list that could be printed off to refer back to. I was delighted to oblige!
Here is the list of the weekly items we use for a standard food parcel, to give you an idea of what you might donate:
The tins we get through 30+ a week of each:
Tomatoes / Sweetcorn / Baked beans / Tuna
Meat (curry or hotdogs or ham or mince etc)
Sweet (fruit / rice pud / custard etc)
Other staples we include every week are:
Pasta (instant noodles are low cost to cook)
Rice (microwave rice is low cost to heat)
Pasta sauce (again low cost to heat)
Tea / coffee / Sugar
Uht milk & Cereal
Treats occasionally to bring a smile e.g. Biscuits / Jam / crisps
We also try to include fresh items to support healthier eating:
Potatoes / Onions / Carrots / Apples / Eggs
Any of the above that you might like to donate would be much appreciated thank you. You could pick one item and donate a few of the same, or pick a couple of things from the list, or even pick one of each and donate the necessary for a whole weekly parcel.
Alternatively you could choose to support with toiletries: & “Baby bank” items
Shower gel / Shampoo / Sanitary items / Soap
Nappies / baby wipes / Baby forumla / Baby food pouches
Laundry pods (we divide packs between families)
Pets: We also like to be able to give out cat food and dog food if people are able to donate those so that families can afford to keep much loved pets.
Where to send things:
Donations can be dropped off at St Mary’s Church on Vale Rd, GU12 5JE whenever we are open. In the summer holidays Friday Cafe is open in August 10:00-13:00 and the church services are 10:30am-12:00.
You can also take donations directly to the team at the Chapel on Wharf Rd GU12 5AY, where we pack the parcels. The team is there packing parcels on Wednesdays and Fridays 8:45-9:45am or contact us to make other arrangements if these times don’t work for you. You can also choose to leave items in the community shed in our car park. Please clearly label the bag “Donation for the food parcels”.
Do you take donations of funds to? Yes please! If shopping is inconvenient we do also very gladly accept donations of funds. We can buy in bulk which keeps the cost down and makes your money go even further to feed more families.
You can donate by cash or cheque at St Marys’s church Ash Vale, which our Treasurer allocates to the restricted fund for food parcels – just write on the envelope or on the back of the cheque what the donation is for and Patrick ensures it goes in the righ account.
We can send you the details for a bank transfer or regular standing order if you prefer. This just requires you to put “Food Parcels” as the reference so again Patrick can assign the funds to the right project.
For immediate online donations we have a church account with the “Give a little” donations platform and the link for the Food Parcels project is here: https://givealittle.co/campaigns/7a47190c-ad4e-4cf9-8662-da844101a41c this platform allows you to sign up for regular giving, or a one-off donation, whichever you would like to do.
Whatever you decide to do – thank you very much for your support!
If you’d like to know more please Contact: 07730609446