On a mild Wednesday evening, two GoodGym-ers arrived at Bethnal Green Foodbank at Raine’s Foundation School and were warmly greeted there by volunteers Sam and Andy. This site first opened up in 2019, and runs sessions every Wednesday afternoon from 2pm-7pm.

This afternoon's session was already in full swing when we arrived, so we set about our respective tasks straight away. I was collecting the populated request forms and putting them in the in-tray to make sure we were giving all of our visitors exactly what they needed. Kim had the much harder job of picking out all of the correct items listed on the form, putting them into bags, and carrying them outside ready to be collected - a serious upper body workout!

The time absolutely flew by, and before we knew it it was time to help with the tidying up operation. This included taking down the gazebo, packing away all of the chairs and tables, disposing of all the rubbish, and tidying away the excess goods and tinned food that weren't needed today.

The Foodbank volunteers were really appreciative of our efforts, and throughout the course of the afternoon we managed to help nearly 300 households in need. Great effort!