A Chain of Heart

With a spring in their step and smiles on their faces, thirteen athletes strode out into the borough of Bromley to help at our local (more than just a) food bank.

First things first, how lovely to see Nicola and Jane both wearing their red t-shirts, we attract all the beeps (in the best possible way) as we run through Penge now! Tonight we welcomed some tourists all the way from Lewisham and Greenwich, crossing borders to share the love. Ah. High-fives to Bea, Emma and Nykolette.

Tonight's run was a welcome relief (pardon the pun, no, just a minute, check that pun!) from the last two weeks of toilet-based volunteering! We ran in a new direction (and maybe slightly in the wrong direction, though I don't know how, it wasn't that far! Thank you to Stephen and Nykolette for back-marking.) to the Holy Trinity Church, where we were met by Rowena. At the church there is a community of people who support and offer a number of services to the wider community, giving people who may be experiencing various challenges, such as homelessness, addiction and mental health problems, a place to meet, to enjoy a warm meal and make use of the the food bank. Living Well hand out around 150 bags of food each week and feed up to 100 people on a Friday lunch time. Following the Harvest Festival, the container was full to the brim with bags of donated food and it was our job to bring all of this inside, where it will be sorted by volunteers over the next couple of days.

At this point there was a mixture of feeling daunted by the enormity of the food pile and excitement at the possibility of forming a human chain. With twelve energetic bodies lifting and shifting (and me, running up and down taking photos, keeping an eye on the time and grabbing a bag here and there), the pile was soon reducing in size and the tables inside were quickly feeling the strain of tins, bags of pasta and rice, juice cartons, biscuits and toiletries.

I wish we could solve all of the world's problems with a human chain

Jon was clearly finding the human chain experience a good place to think about the bigger picture. As the tables inside the church were filling with bags, we put out crates underneath, to accommodate yet more bags. Once these were full, more tables came out, until we gathered around the container and realised we had, in fact, transported everything we could! Incredible! Time for a human chain high-five!

Our volunteers were now able to gather and appreciate everything they had achieved and to hear from Rowena about the valuable work that Living Well do. Just have a look at the the before and after photos above and remember that this was achieved in less than 45 minutes by just twelve people.

Next week we will continue the good work, this time returning to Beckenham Baptist Church to give the inside room another coat of paint. Sign up here for a 5km run in total, a nice indoor task and possibly some treats (but no tricks!).