Ash Villages Food Parcels Project Need your support

ashvalechapel
Apr 21
2 min read

We are battling to support families in difficult times. Ash Wharf is a recognised area of deprivation in Surrey. The surrey-I website shows in the 2024 data that Ash Wharf ranks 19^th for overall deprivation out of 709 areas in Surrey. (1 being the most deprived / 709 least) https://cdn-wp.datapress.cloud/surrey/20240722115840/July-2024-Guildford-010C-in-Ash-Wharf.pdf It means that in hard times like these, a large number of local residents are really struggling. For example, the cheapest shower gel available to us just went up from 35p to 50p – not much in pence but huge as a percentage! For those already scraping by on the cheapest own-brand items, this kind of inflation hits hard. Families, pensioners, people unable to work for other reasons are choosing between heating and eating and then sitting in the dark when the electric runs out.

The Ash Villages Food Parcels Project is doing what we can to help. What started life as a Covid-19 support project for local families is now the main foodbank for Ash, Ash Vale, Ash Green and Tongham. We have a unique model (adapted for village life with poor transport links), where food parcels are delivered from The Chapel, to the doorstep, by an army of volunteers. We fed 4,600 people in 2025 and about 2100 of those are children living with deprivation. The food parcels project cost £33k to run in 2025 and we are expecting need to grow to about £35k in 2026. The growth in demand is partly driven by the cost of living, and partly by growth in population, as over 2000 new homes have been built in the area and each development includes a proportion of social or affordable housing. We need help to meet this huge demand in our local area. Please keep us all in your prayers.

Can you help us please?

We gladly accept donations of tins or any long-life in-date food at The Chapel whenever we are open, or contact us to make arrangements.
If you prefer to donate funds, we can make any financial donation go a long way buy buying urgently needed items in bulk. You can donate online (one-off or monthly) at ‘Give a Little’ or contact us if you prefer to donate by BACS. https://givealittle.co/c/7a47190c-ad4e-4cf9-8662-da844101a41c
We also have a fundraiser coming up – the Foodbank Youth Team who pack food parcels on Thursday Nights are doing an all night badminton challenge! You can sponsor their efforts here: https://www.justgiving.com/page/youthfoodbankbadminton?utm_medium=FR&utm_source=CL
Amazon shopper? We have a wishlist here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/hz/wishlist/ls/X2K6QAR8VM5X?ref_=wl_share
Would you like a guest speaker? Alex is happy give a talk to raise the profile of the project, or you can come to us and visit the foodbank for a talk on site. We have been going for 6 years and there are plenty of stories to tell!