Sunday 21st September
Report written by Sevan
Today's visit to Care4Calais included an unusual new task for the team to complete. A haul of prams, pushchairs and wheelchairs were unloaded from task owner Tamzin's car and they needed to be cleaned. Had they been (p)ram raided from a local shop? Not at all, they'd been recovered from a local recycling centre where they'd been sitting outside for a while. Kash offered to put on waterproofs, wash everything down and find out which ones still had more life in them.
Steph worked alongside Tamzin to prepare clothing packs for local hotels, tailoring them to the needs of each recipient. Some of the previously created packs had to be fixed too to correct the sizes of the clothes. Outside, Kash was also preparing a custom request, finding a wheelchair for an 11 year old who couldn't walk.
In another area, Afshin and Sevan worked on a third task, sorting new donations. Care4Calais are always in need of clothes, particularly for men, so there was a little disappointment from Tamzin to discover that there was mostly womens' clothing in the donated bags. Helpfully, some winter coats and hats were found too, which will be really useful in the coming months.
To wrap up the task, Steph moved the completed clothing packs to be collected by the delivery driver and the newly sorted clothes went to the storage room, replacing those that had been used. Apart from the slightly soggy wheeled transport outside and a lot of stock rotation, there was no evidence that GoodGym had been present, just in case the police do come knocking 👮.
Care4Calais is a volunteer run charity delivering essential aid and support to refugees living in the UK, Northern France and Belgium. We believe in a fair and tolerant British society and advocate for a welcoming and inclusive attitude towards refugees. Operating year round, our focus is to provide warm clothing, bedding, food and medical assistance to people in desperate need. We also provide social support and interaction, including language lessons and sports and music workshops.
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Community clean-up at South Acton Industrial Estate