Friday 7th April 2023
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Report written by Madhan
When I entered St.John's Church, the lunch serving was halfway through. Kash, Jenni, and other Soup kitchen volunteers were super busy getting the food served to the clients who were waiting in the dining area.
Jenni was supposed to hand over her task to me. Just when I found the place to leave my jumper and got back, Jenni already started giving the handover to a new good gymer Gabriela. Angela the coordinator asked me to take the handover from Kash who was super busy jumping from table to table serving food and getting the plates back to the kitchen.
Soon Jenni and Kash left, and it was up to Gabbie and me to take the task to the finish line. We played the role of waiter, and I jumped right in without learning the menu items. As it was nearing 2:30 the dining area became less busy and there was only a handful to serve. Many opted for takeaways, to which the Ealing soup kitchen volunteers ran around the kitchen to get them packed.
All that was left was to clean up the dining and kitchen and leave for the day. It sounded simple, but there was quite a lot to do.
Gabbie noticed me struggling to fit the mop head to a stick, then asked me to leave it to her. I was separating the spoons, forks, and knives into individual boxes.
By then Gabriela had cleaned the table, swept, vacuumed, and mopped the whole dining area swiftly.
Other volunteers hoovered over the other parts of the soup kitchen, by the time I managed to find a vacuum cleaner.
Angela then invited all the volunteers to pick their Easter Eggs. We went to a room full of chocolate boxes and picked our chocolates for the day
Gabbie then left and I was waiting as the kitchen was the only place that was left tidying up. Once the chefs and others cleaned the dishes and put them into the dishwasher, I mopped the kitchen and left for the day.
Ealing Soup Kitchen is a registered charity set up to help the vulnerable and homeless in the area. Nine local churches support our faith-based Soup Kitchen, which has been running since 1973.
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