Care4Calais had a big job for GoodGym this afternoon. To prepare around 130 packs of clothing for refugees in one hotel. Some of the residents had been given clothes previously and today, the second big delivery would complete the task.

Boxes of clothes were piled up waiting for the team, who welcomed back Mohamed for his first GoodGym Ealing task since moving back west 👋. The ask was fairly straight forward, to make standard clothing packs in a single size at a time, on a larger scale than normal. Everything was set up like a production line to make the system quick and easy:

1. Open a bag 🛍️
2. Place socks inside 🧦
3. Hand on to the next person 🤜🤛
4. Add men's underwear 🩲
5. Add a hoodie 🧥
6. Hand on to the next person 🤜🤛
7. Add jogging bottoms 👖
8. Add 2 t-shirts 👕👕
9. Done ✅

With much of the clothing being black or navy, the team needed ways to make sure the right clothes ended up in the right bags.

"Are these hoodies or joggers?" - GoodGymer
"Which half naked man is on the pack?"
"The hoodies have topless men on them too, which doesn't make sense" - Tamzin, task owner

The "naked man process" worked up until the team realised that some packs had 2 hoodies and no trousers in them. Cue a rapid search through 40ish packs to identify which ones needed fixing.

Despite the hoodie issues early on, an improved system meant that the job of creating the packs finished early, with a range of small, medium, large and XL bags tightly packed into boxes.

After the rapid and fairly repetitive production line, came the slow, creative piece. Fitting all of those boxes into 2 family cars needed thought, inventiveness and some force. With both cars full to bursting and ready to be delivered to Care4Calais' beneficiaries, it was time to wrap up and wander home in the late afternoon sun.

GoodGym Ealing and Hanwell Hootie go together like salt and pepper. Each year, the famous free music festival run by local people, attracts thousands of music lovers who swarm in Hanwell to hear emerging young bands - and our team is around to support that brilliant volunteer-led initiative! No wonder why the numbers picked up at tonight's group run to the Brent Lodge Park's Stables to help the Hootie organisers: June and Andrea.

Since the Hootie was in less than three weeks, it was about time to start organising the equipment stored at the Stables: mostly furniture and banners. But here is a twist:the storage space was struck by an unexpected leak, resulting in damp floor in one of the rooms! The solution: all the things had to be brought into the yard, where Andrea would triage them and decide which items were going back inside and which the Stables needed to part with. It was a perfect challenge for 8 GoodGymers with an hour to spare!

The runners Mohamed, Steph Ducat, Sevan and Kash were glad to see regulars Claire and Madhan again after a short break and welcome a pair of new starters: Erin and Nick. The two could not have chosen a better group run task: local to them, contributing to a beloved Hanwell event, and challenging and fun at the same time!

While part of the team set off to move the furniture in varying states outside, others got rock-and-rolling (mostly rolling) festival banners. On such a great spring evening, we thought that even sofas, armchairs, tables and giant "H" letters deserved a dose of fresh air. Particularly sickly furniture pieces: legless, ripped and mouldy, were going to stay outdoors even longer than us. Spoiler alert: they were not coming back. We split the rest of the items into a YES pile (this year's stuff) and a NO pile (another time stuff). The YES things needed to be kept together and placed in an easily accessible (and most dry) part of the Stables ahead of the festival. We didn't discriminate against the NO objects - they were going back inside too, and for all items, we steered away from putting them in the previously flooded sections.

Our amazing team, thanks to determination, teamwork, muscle- and brainpower (and June's clear direction), achieved the goal in about 65 minutes - and even squeezed in a team photoshoot!

Our tonight's efforts will certainly make the Hootie prep smoother! If you want to join the next task to help the festival, see us in two weeks at the same location - sign up for the session now!

I took part in a volunteer initiative organized by Care 4 Calais, a non-profit organization, to prepare clothing bags for refugees in the Eailing area. The goal of the session was to provide essential and comfortable clothing for refugees residing in local hotels. In addition to assembling the clothing bags, we also sorted and organized a collection of shoes in various sizes to ensure that the needs of all individuals were met in an orderly and efficient manner.

Activities and Tasks Carried Out: Clothing bags were prepared to include essential and necessary items for refugees, such as daily wear, undergarments, socks, and coats. Each bag was tailored based on specific requests to ensure it met the individual needs of its recipient.

A variety of shoes in different sizes were carefully sorted to meet the diverse needs of the refugees. The sorting process included the following sizes: 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, and 44, to ensure that each person received a suitable pair of shoes.

The shoes were then arranged into organized groups to facilitate quick and efficient distribution. Task assignments were effectively divided among the volunteers, which helped accelerate the process and ensured that the work was completed with a high level of accuracy and care.

Nothing compares to the feeling of happiness that fills the heart after participating in a tangible humanitarian effort, that deep sense of contentment and peace that arises from giving and supporting those in need.

GoodGym sessions are meant to be short, sweet and impactful. With about an hour for a task at our group runs, it would be easy to leave a job half-finished - but we don't like that!

A month after we had turned into wild boars for one night to dig for bramble roots just as it were Périgord truffles, we returned to the pond area in Walpole Park for the wild wrestling showdown with the brambles!

Steph and Kash ran to the task, with the former carrying a sizeable backpack. Some people call it coming to a group run straight after work - we call it military-style training. Mohamed, Sevan and Andrew confidently walked into the ring, ready to put on thick, red gloves and knock brambles out of the park.

Andrew chose a fine job for his first GoodGym session and was about to make a difference in the park where he used to volunteer. Welcome, Andrew!

While we would expect Eye Of The Tiger to be the soundtrack for a prize fight, the music of a brass instrument, a trumpet perhaps, filled the park. Kash would swear it was an attempt on Beethoven's Symphony No. 5, but there was no one to confirm that.

In less than an hour the brambles by the pond were completely knocked out! To drag them out of the ring, first Sevan and Andrew had to haul a trolley with trimmings to the green waste area, then the activity was repeated by Steph and Mohamed. Our team left Walpole Park victorious with no more brambles to dig out in sight. We admit that it was just starting to get dark though!

Next week we are heading to Acton to invite residents for a free community event with music, food, activities and stalls of the Reduce and Recycle Hub partners. Join us now!

Today, I participated in a community activity that takes place every Monday at the South Ealing Community Food Cupboard. This project aims to reduce food waste and carbon emissions by redistributing surplus food to members of the community.

During this activity, we received surplus food from supermarkets (such as the Felix Project) and local market traders. We then sorted and organized the food in a way that was suitable for distribution to those in need.

A large number of people visited today, and it was heartwarming to see the gratitude and joy on their faces as they received the food.

This type of volunteer work brings me happiness and satisfaction, helping me build good relationships within the local community. It also gives me the opportunity to contribute to reducing waste and making a positive impact.

I always believe that: To be happier, you must make others happy by helping them.