Tonight, 2 GoodGymer's combined with volunteers from Birmingham Central Foodbank to sort through donations.

It was Mel's first shift at the foodbank, but she took to it like a duck to water and immediately got stuck in with setting up the tables and with weighing the donations and noting where they had come from.

After weighing donations, we moved on to sorting and dating them. In particular, Mel and I dealt with a large amount of sweetcorn, orange squash and rice pudding (hence this week's pun). Once we had dated them and other items, we stacked them on the shelves in the main storage room and helped clean up.

It was a great shift and lovely to catch up with Leon and the volunteers from the foodbank, as well as being able to chat with Mel :)

First and Foremost a special mention to Holly, Caroline and Ben who braved the snow and either walked or used public transport to get to the task today (and still got there before me) - Well done Troopers!

As expected the amount of donations have significantly reduced since Christmas, however thankfully the foodbank is still quite well stocked (for now).

Pun is courtesy of Ben

As there wasn't many new donations we started organising the food into dates and restocking the stock rooms.

With everyone's efforts and great teamwork we managed to clear almost everything by 7.45pm and left the task a little earlier than usual.

For those who have done this task before.. I bet you've never seen the room so tidy (please see pics).

Before we left eagle-eyed Ben spotted a bottle of something that had handwritten 'Not fit for human consumption' warning on it.. can anyone help us work out what it is?

Today was the first food sorting mission at the Birmingham City Church of 2021.

Unsurprisingly the donations that the foodbank received were down on the volumes that were coming in just before Christmas. Nevertheless there was still enough to keep us busy for the 2 hours.

Once we had finished weighing and sorting the donations we started dating, which is when Yvette found a jar of Apple, Rudebarb and Ginger conserve which was 9 years past it's Use By date (2012).

At 8.30 we wrapped up (both the tasks and ourselves) and braced ourselves for the cold walk/run home.

Once again people's plans have been ruined in a year that we have all given so much, it's easy to feel down and sorry for ourselves, however there's always an incredible sense of realism and seeing the bigger picture when helping out those less fortunate.

6 incredible Goodgymers helped to sort the huge Christmas donations at the Birmingham Central Food Bank. George, Tousif and Yvette were busy sorting and dating, whilst helping show Kate the ropes on her first mission, it was great to have you along and we hope you can come again! Thanks must also go to George for helping with tonight's pun!

We also welcomed Jenny back to the Midlands, from GG Islington, whose been part of GG since 2015!

Thanks Everyone and have a great Christmas and a cracking new year!

Liam

I went along to my first Friday shift at Birmingham Central Foodbank. This made a change in comparison to the Monday evening sorting shift and it was interesting to see the more client focussed side of the operations. I also discovered new storage rooms which I did not know existed.

I initially helped to stock the shelves, before making up a mixture of single person, large family and vegetarian bags for collection. I then helped to restock the shelves as there was a high turnover rate from making up the bags.

There was a nice 'Christmassy' atmosphere, with songs being played, and it was lovely to meet some of the other volunteers who I had not met, in addition to interacting with those dependant on the generous donations. It was also nice to be able to include some Christmas treats, including some Cadbury Secret Santa chocolates, to the bags.

Tonight, 3 GoodGymer's combined with volunteers from Birmingham Central Foodbank to sort through a large amount of donations ahead of Christmas.

Upon arrival, we were pleased to see that people had been generously donating food items (and other items including toiletries and toys) ahead of Christmas. This also meant that we were super busy tonight (so much so I forgot to get photos of us in action).

We all combined together really well to weigh, sort, date and then sub-sort the donated items. In particular, Louise did a great job in the main storage room, ensuring everything was super organised, whilst Caroline speedily sorted and dated items.

It was a busy and fun shift which flew by. As there was a bottle or prosecco donated, I thought it apt to say we all put the 'pro' in prosecco tonight.