No food should go to waste this Christmas season – or any other season for that matter. Since 2021, Cherwell Collective has mobilised and fed thousands of community members through Midday Mass Distributions, saving overstock from food businesses and redistributing it to hungry populations. We are pleased to announce the dates and details for our Midday Mass Distributions in Oxford and Kidlington for 2025/2026.

Dates

“Midday Mass” will take place from 11 am at Barton Community Association (address: Barton Neighbourhood Centre, Underhill Circus, Headington, Oxford OX3 9LS) on:

  • 27 December
  • 29 December
  • 30 December
  • 31 December
  • 2 January
  • 3 January

Midday Mass will then move to 11 am at our WISH building (address: 4 The Parade, Kidlington, OX5 1EE) on:

  • 5 January
  • 6 January
  • 7 January
  • 8 January

How Midday Mass Distributions Work

Cherwell Collective partners with Oxford Food Hub, Savona Foodservice, and amazing community volunteers to collect food overstock from food businesses. Most of these businesses are grocers who order much more food than usual to accommodate the increase in consumption over the holiday period.

Sadly, much of this food will not be sold in time. Before it goes out of date, we collect surplus food to give to the community at our Midday Mass Distributions.

We collect the food directly from the shop and take it straight to the Midday Mass Distribution venue. We then unload, sort, and get the food ready to distribute. 

Each distribution day, doors open to the public at 11 am to take food until supplies are gone.

Are Midday Mass Distributions free?

If you need them to be, yes, Midday Mass Distributions are free! Just let us know that you face a financial need.

Can I come even if I’m not in need?

Yes, you can come to Midday Mass Distributions even if you’re not in need. They are absolutely for everyone.

Midday Mass Distributions follow Cherwell Collective’s pay-what-you-can model. We use this model in our Climatarian Kitchen cafe, Cherwell Larder, and for our on-site events to make sure that everyone can enjoy and support each other.

Everyone should come to Midday Mass Distributions, regardless of financial or other life situations. Why? Because reducing food waste is for everyone. Food waste accounts for 8% of global greenhouse gas emissions, which contribute to climate change. By reducing food waste, we are all working together to help the planet. Moreover, when everyone pays-what-you-can, our services can keep going thanks to the financial support!

Pay-what-you-can means that those who can afford to pay leave a donation for what they take home. If you’re able, donating what you would normally pay for the food at the supermarket would make a huge difference. This helps support our work moving forward so that those who cannot afford to pay can continue to have these services available to them.

Even with incredible volunteers and partners, and a donated venue space free of hire (HUGE thank you to our friends at Barton Community Association for this!), the distributions still cost hundreds of pounds to put on. Thus, donations and people truly paying-what-you-can are hugely important to sustaining these distributions and events.

Impact

In the 2024/2025 holiday season of Midday Mass Distributions, Cherwell Collective redistributed 70 tonnes of food back to the community between Boxing Day and January 7.

Saving this food saved the production of 70,000 car miles worth of greenhouse gas emissions from going to waste and helped feed thousands of people in a time of high need.

We are so excited to see how our community can rally to keep food out of landfill this season!

If you are able to volunteer your time to help out at one or more of these distributions, please sign up here. 

Happy holidays to all!