‘Twas the night before Christmas Eve, and all through the hall,
Not a single space was wasted, no nothing at all;
The veggies were stacked in the kitchen with care,
Broccoli, mushrooms, and onions all there;

The oranges were nestled so snug in their crates,
While pasta and fish pie just waited for plates;
And Rob in his Santa hat, Anwen in glitter,
Abandoned their ideas of getting any fitter,

When out in the car park there arose such a chatter,
Of GoodGymers arriving to attend to the matter.
Away around Oxford they flew like a flash,
With food parcels, presents both part of their stash.

As rain fell and wind blew they toiled around town,
With Christmas cheer, puddings, and no hint of a frown,
So up to the houses the runners they flew,
With their arms full of gifts, and much Christmas food too.

They sprang to the task of delivering cheer,
Knowing Christmas would be very different this year.
And we heard them exclaim, as they skipped into the night,
HAPPY CHRISTMAS TO ALL, AND TO ALL A GOOD NIGHT!

A massive round of applause to Sarah for completing her 100th good deed this week!

Welcome Hannah - so glad you could join us for the first time!

Tonight a smaller but mighty GoodGym team delivered 25 food parcels to people all over Oxford. We even sent out our first turkey dinners and christmas puddings. With our volunteer numbers dropping a little in the run up to Christmas it's heartwarming to see the team pull together to ensure all the supplies make it to the people who need them. Many of our groups did double deliveries, making a big difference to the number of adults and children we were able to reach. Tonight between packing and deliveries we helped around 50 adults and and 5 children and babies.

We reached an exciting GoodGym Oxford milestone tonight - hitting the grand total of 2000 Good Deeds since we launched back in February 2019. Amazingly, 1275 of those Good Deeds were done in 2020. THAT'S how you respond to a global pandemic!

Welcome Mat - hope you enjoyed your first experience of GoodGym!

23 GoodGymers pulled together to deliver 25 parcels of food and other essentials tonight.

Parcels flew out going South, East and West across Oxford. Many of the team doubled back to the hall after dropping off their first parcel to check all the deliveries were under control, which was much appreciated on such a busy evening.

Shout out to Mark and Ben for sorting and restocking the shelves while the first parcels started going out.

Special mention to Rachael who did 3 deliveries tonight: Gold star!

Excellent teamwork as ever.

Well, we're out of lockdown and into Advent: the Christmas countdown is on!

The food parcels we deliver on Wednesdays for Oxford Mutual Aid show no sign of reducing in number. This week we had a few extras on the list - a whopping 30 parcels to get to people.

Our parcels comprised 29 deliveries to regulars, and 1 emergency parcel for someone self-isolating to ensure they don't go hungry this week. The food parcels comprise a mixture of fresh and tinned goods, bread, pastries, and pre-prepared meals from the Oxford Mutual Aid Kitchen Collective. Not everyone has cooking facilities, so we do our best to ensure they still have a variety of options to see them through the week. We always also send out several packs of nappies, baby formula, baby food and baby clothes in Wednesday's parcels.

These are a lifeline to people. It's about sharing what we have as a community, not charity.

We have a policy of not sending any GoodGymer out on a delivery on their own, so most pair up, with our largest group a team of 6 - making sure we adhere to the Tier 2 rules. It's an important bit of social interaction for all of us as we are missing the day-to-day camaraderie of our workplaces and socialising with family and friends.

Welcome Heather. We're so happy you came to join us today, but really sad about your bike being stolen.

Big round of applause to Rob for reaching 100 Good Deeds tonight - 50 of those done in Oxford (largely with Oxford Mutual Aid) since transfering to us from Bath in September! Thanks for the celebratory flapjacks Bethan, and thank you to all of you who brought donations tonight - they are very much appreciated.

Another Wednesday, another evening of GoodGymers loitering in an East Oxford car park awaiting their food parcel pot luck. East, South and West; we have most of the city covered with our man and woman power.

This week we had 24 regular parcels to drop off around the city and one emergency parcel to deliver to ensure a family didn't go hungry tonight.

People often assume Oxford is a wealthy city, but there's a lot of poverty, not helped by the high cost of living and the pandemic. Each week our parcel numbers are rising and there's more and more demand for help putting food on the table.

The large number of deliveries GoodGym gets through on Wednesday evenings makes a big difference to the number of people who can be helped. We appreciate your energy and your time commitment, as well as your store cupboard and Christmas gift donations, and yes, for answering the last minute call for carrier bags!

3 of our lovely team reached the 10 Good Deeds milestone tonight: well done Anna, Sarah, and Zoe. We're very happy to have you involved.

Thank you for the yummy cakes Sarah. Hope you enjoy celebrating Thanksgiving tomorrow!

Welcome Rosa and Claire - great to meet you both!