Ealing Soup Kitchen were a little short on volunteers for their Monday dinner service.

Iram got stuck in helping prepare for the service: setting up tables, putting together snack bags and unloading a generous food delivery from City Harvest. There was also some extra lifting to do with clothing donations. These were unpacked and ready to go when another organisation, forced inside by the wet weather, needed the same space to distribute their goods, so the clothing table had to be packed back away and reloaded into the cupboard. A bit of unexpected musical chairs with donations!

Despite the wet weather and juggling, everything was ready well in time for service!

No - not the singer but a delicious lunch for clients today. Chefs Andrew and Arul excelled themselves with meatloaf, mashed potatoes, beans and onion gravy. There was a vegetable stir fry with rice for the vegetarians. It was a busy day at the Hub with games, English lessons, exercises, showers, food parcels, clothes distribution and lunch for the clients. Even with a shortage of volunteers, everything went like clockwork and saw a lot of satisfied clients.

I was on kitchen duty at the Soup Kitchen this morning and that meant chopping onions for the vegetable stir fry and then onion gravy. Raw onions always mean tears for me but I managed to get through it. Kitchen shifts involve whatever needs doing so there were dishes and pots to wash, tables to organise and general cleaning up to be done. All in time for the lunch service.

After celebrating Goodgym Ealing 9th birthday in the park, both Nishy and Steph Ducat headed to St John's church to help feed the homeless. As we both arrived a bit early, we were tested on our wrapping : not gift wrapping but creating wraps that would be fried for the guests thatwould be coming later in the afternoon. Different approach from the team : roll it like a cigarette or like an ice cream cone and put the filling in without it getting out. We created edible masterpieces. Once all done, Ash the chef, fried them. Customers started coming in and Nishy was serving drinks and helping in the main foyer. Steph Ducat was in the kitchen helping and cleaning all the pots and pans and assisting kitchen crew when needed. So it was fried fille tortilla filled with mince, potatoes, spices etc. There were also some jacket potatoes with cheese and some vegetable soup. Fruit salad was also served. Busy shift and then Steph Ducat was hit by a storm of plats, cups, bowls and pots. How many cups have they used and didnt match the number of guests? Seems that they used several cups instead of reusing theirs. In the end guests had full tummy's and left with some takeaway food like bananas. some fried tortillas, bread, fruit etc.. Nishy helped clearing the foyer and Steph Ducat cleaning the kitchen.

We are clearly wrap artists as the wraps went down a treat and none broke or disintergrated in the oil.

Last shift of the day as all good things come to an end but also everything needs to be cleaned and put away for the next session. Welcome Osama who got straight into cleaning in the kitchen. I stayed also to clean the kitchen as ai am one of the culprits who did make a mess in it. Then one of our regular at Goodgym did her first appearance at the Hub : Gabriela. I could not remember from which country Gabriela was and she told me Venezuela. Told her and introduce her to 3 regular voluteers(Sonia and her children Isabella & Albert) who are from South America. The strange thing is that they are from the same place in Venezuela 🇻🇪. Its a small world 🌎. Goodgym is not only helping and staying fit but it is also making new friends like it was the case today. Gabriela has new "Pana" or friends. They chatted during the session and exchanged numbers.

Lunch service of the ESK was red as 5 Goodgymers volunteering from 1pm to help serve guests. Freya went from the tea station to serving, Iram was on parcel duties and also then helped in the kitchen with the pot wash,both Jamie and Jamiewere serving food and Steph Ducat was in his usual spot ...the kitchen finishing the prep and serving food. On the menu today was lovely Moussaka : lamb or veggetable served with a side salad. Then strawberries with greek yoghurt, a little sprinkle of sugar and some honey.

Busy shift and all the food went to hungry guests who enjoyed the meals. Takeaway service was also a success at the end of the food serving period.

There was a wave of red t shirts in the serving/kitchen area as 2 more voluteeers arrived at 3pm to help cleaning. 7 Goodgymers in total on the day.