This evening our group’s focus was not just on the task in hand but also on honouring an amazing milestone for a true Lewisham legend as it was Jacqueline’s 500th good deed!!

And what a Mission to tick off her 5th century, one of our favourites in fact, as after being benched this time last year we returned to the Big Red Box; a project run by King’s Church which organises donations to support families and individuals across South East London struggling with food provision via delivery of lovingly prepared Christmas hampers.

This evening we had a clear target; to prepare 106 hampers which required delivery before the end of the week. On arrival, Alice provided a quick briefing detailing the switch from the previous use of cardboard boxes to cheaper and more sustainable bags-for-life. This meant that 212 individual bags would need carefully filling and pairing, since 2 bags = 1 hamper.

“Feel Good About YourElf!”

With the bag-to-hamper ratio clarified, and alongside other lovely volunteers, we set about one of our most satisfying festive tasks and channeled our inner-elfs as we first prepared stack of bags then took to the production line, progressing along the always-well-organised tables in sequence and adding in prescribed amounts of all the ingredients for a Christmas feast!

When our layout area became busy with filled bags, we’d switch to carrying hamper-pairs through to sit in discrete batches intended for specific deliveries, under Alice’s supervision and quality management.

As we passed a hundred bags (= 50 hampers, remember!), it was time for a break and a restocking of the production line, with fresh pallets of tins, packets and cartons being lifted up onto the tables to ensure continued smooth production.

“A big red milestone at Big Red Box”

After around an hour, Santa’s whistle blew and we were told we had hit our target in double-quick time (as you might expect from the hamper-speed record holders!). This left us plenty of time to stack away dozens of now-empty pallets, ready for the next delivery of donations, before a group congratulation of Jacqueline on her amazing milestone!