A rather lovely community mission landed in the inbox last week and we just had to make it happen. It was gonna take some organising as this mission was to span Richmond, Kingston, and Hounslow GoodGym. There were two collection points and over 30 addresses to deliver to…could we do it? Of course we could!

This community mission was for Skylarks, an independent Richmond upon Thames-based charity that provides activities and therapies for children with disabilities and additional needs.

Every summer Fiona and Sona from Skylarks host a party to thank all the people who have volunteered for the charity. This year due to current circumstances the party is to take place online. Fiona and her team had the wonderful idea to surprise their volunteers with a goodie bag of drinks and nibbles so that they could celebrate at home while taking part in the online party. So Goodgym were on hand to make some of these precious deliveries happen.

Over the course of this week runners signed up to collect and then walk or cycle to deliver the goodie bags to the volunteers’ homes. Many thought it was a lovely mission to be part of and were really chuffed to be able to thank fellow volunteers.

Sona and Fiona were so impressed with our efforts that they sent me this message:

“It’s heart warming to have your runners/cyclists help us in this way. Both Fiona and I have really enjoyed meeting them and having a brief chat before they take off to deliver the goody bags!”

And the recipients of the goodie bags were chuffed too! This is what they had to say:

“I received a knock on the door with a volunteer handing me my little gift. Thank you very much. It’s lovely.”

“Thank you :) The GoodGym is a great find too, well done! X”

“I just wanted to say I have l received the most wonderful pack of goodies. Thank you so so much, I’m so grateful. Can’t wait for Friday!”

“Thank you so much Fiona and Sona for the lovely gift proud to be a trustee with you guys, loved it x”

“Thank you, all of you at Skylarks, for the lovely gift that was delivered the other day. I wasn’t expecting anything like this, really appreciate it and it made my day.”

“I loved my goodie bag! What a lovely gesture.”

“I can’t wait to celebrate with you on Friday, thank you for the gift bag it was really lovely!”

“Thank you very much for the lovely bag of goodies. And Rose is my favourite of all wines.”

*Thank you to all the runners that volunteered this week for such a worthy community mission! *