Tuesday 9th October 2018
PHOTOGRAPHER
PHOTOGRAPHER
BACK MARKER
Find out about GoodGym TaskForce
Report written by Paul Becker (he/him)
We stretched our Tuesday evening to the absolute limit tonight as we took on a hilly 8k round trip to Westbury to help sort donations that had been collected for the Samara's Aid charity to support refugees in Syria.
With run leaders a bit thin on the ground there was no option but to stay together in one large group for the long run up Park Street and Whiteladies Road - so I was super-impressed that everyone worked so hard to stay together over the whole journey. The evening had been billed as a #runandtalk event so I hope that everyone managed to have a bit of chat too - even if it was just at the odd traffic light along the way!
Once at the church we were greeted with a mountain of boxes of donated items and several heaps of garments that hadn't quite made the cut. Samara's Aid aim to aim to send only the best possible quality items to show the utmost care and respect for those who have lost everything.
With only 20 minutes or so it was great to see everyone picking a task and taking the initiative to work out what needed to be done and working so brilliantly as a team. I must admit I was a little concerned about how much we would be able to get done at the start of the evening but I needn't have worried - you are all donation sorting heros!
One group marked up completed boxes to indicate their contents while another formed a human chain to move the completed boxes out of the church to the porch for collection. And others helped pack up nappies and bedding or boxed up the remaining heaps of garments into boxes for men, women or children. We even managed to get a bit of pruning done outside the church!
The weather being so awful over the weekend we had been unable to deliver our leaflets for Above and Beyond so a small group of leafleters kindly volunteered to help out here as well.
With the room completely transformed, there was time for a group photo by the church organ pipes and even a little vocal performance - which I have to say really wasn't half bad - Bristol GoodGym choir anyone?
It was all downhill on the way back and after some stretching in Queen Square we congratulated Kait on hitting 100 good deeds tonight - well done Kait!!
Thanks to Charlie and Mel for the photos - and also to Mel for organising GoodGym Eats tonight
Bristol
Our local community farm is tidier for the enjoyment of all