What a gorgeous Bank Holiday! 🌞 While most of Ealing was enjoying the sun this Good Friday, getting paths and benches in all the parks busy, two GoodGymers decided to descend to the underground instead. Jennifer and Kash took advantage of their day off work to join the first shift at Ealing Soup Kitchen at the Crypt of St John's Church. Because it was Good Friday, the ESK coordinator Angela prepared something special for the clients! 🫶

🌟 Highlights:

• A special day means a special programme! There was bingo with prizes, table curling and more entertainment. We enjoyed poems performed by the clients, signing, and even dancing! The gospel choir music was lively and heartwarming 🎵
• Jennifer and Kash first joined the busy tea station along with volunteers Maureen and Sangeeta 🫖
• Sangeeta prepared a bunch of impressive vegan cupcakes with not-so-vegan icing and chocolate eggs on top 🥚 They looked absolutely professional! 😋
• Jennifer's and Kash's knowledge of languages proved to be very useful to the clients who struggled with English or just fancied a chat in another lingo
• There was a milk shortage just before dinner! Uh oh! During tea & coffee service we discovered that a big bottle of milk in the fridge was spoiled. Kash ran to the shop across the road and bought a few more pints. Other volunteers didn't expect GoodGym to be so fast 🏃‍♀️ Arul and Angela were excited about having so much extra milk and decided to go big on serving lots of hot chocolate to the clients!
• During the dinner, Jennifer and Kash acted as servers, taking two tables each. It was not an easy job for a beginner, especially if you keep forgetting to ask whether a client wants some gravy! 😅 Other volunteers told the newbies not to stress. Every client, whether a bit grumpy or charming and grateful, would get served eventually!

At 13:30, second-shift GoodGymers, Madhan and Gabriela, came to the rescue and took some of the responsibilities from Jennifer and Kash. The first-shift folk hung around a bit longer, then emerged from the underground to enjoy the sunshine.