This is week two of assembling food parcels for families needing support during the school holidays and we had a fine team of four to help out. James and Vanessa loaded the van with the ready-to-go crates, while Lorna and Phillipa tucked into the picking and weighing of more parcels. Then we came together in the warehouse and, with the use of both scales, managed to complete the task at a steady rate. Top product award this week, goes to a large impenetrable bag of Country Food Casserole, which we agreed would be delicious and nutritious. All went to plan, and we hope our precision labelling aids distribution staff with the pairing of family crates. We packaged 13 family parcels in all, beating last week's total. There was upbeat talk about the satisfying nature of helping and we joked about slipping into foodbank lingo with 're-stocking, bringing forward the 2021 pasta sauce, topping up weights' etc. Our connection with Colchester foodbank is getting stronger! And talking of strength, we certainly flexed our own, lifting the completed crates onto the dollies at the end of the task. To our joy, our mystic calling also enticed the Moorside cat, who swaggered in for the photo call! Last week, 50 families benefited from these provisions, which is a thought-provoking statistic. Goodgym are pleased to be part of this valuable, community initiative and thank you to James, Lorna and Phillipa for donating your time, your enthusiasm and your hard work.

When I rolled up the warehouse shutter to be greeted by Becky and Phillipa's cheerful faces, I knew the Foodbank had some fine help for tonight's mission. It was lovely to meet Phillipa and we welcomed her to Goodgym for her first good deed. Our task was to build as many family parcels as possible and, aided by Lucy's graphic instructions, the three of us soon had a workable system underway. We picked produce, weighed it and packed each parcel, ensuring it was within the standard range of 20-22kg. We then labelled each one so it could be identified before distribution, and finally loaded the crates into the van. After one and a half hours of solid work, we achieved 13 family food parcels. This will relieve the load for staff who are fitting this job into their usual routine at Moorside. We chatted while we busied and agreed that we'd used more muscle and leg work than expected. What with that, and our walk to and from the site, the keeping fit aspect was ticked off nicely! A speculative cat outsmarted us in her ability to dash back under the shutter before we could shoo her away. She was a joy though, adding some comedy to the evening with her nosing round racks and dashing through shelves! * And still venturing after lock up when I saw her socialising with a welder in the next depot...! Each week, 30 family and 16 standard parcels are given out to families who are lacking the benefit of free school meals during the August holiday period. I'm thrilled GoodGym are helping to make this happen and a huge thanks to Becky and Phillipa for their focussed and jovial work spirit. Lucy (Foodbank supervisor) was delighted with our efforts. It's wonderful to discover she is an ex-goodgymer at Ipswich. She tells me she is keen to join in with Colchester GG once running and training returns, and I know we'd all love to see her. *Overall, a great mission completed. Thank you both for a lovely evening.**