Olive's too late for the speed date

It was not the most auspicious start to a community mission I have ever experienced as we found out why they usually keep the front door locked, when a passer by with one too many beer cans in their hand followed Louise and I through the hallway, shouting in quite a disconcerting way. Though it was a great opportunity to meet one of the pastors of the church who managed to guide him in the most diplomatic and assertive manner, which helped and reassured us immediately. With the very unusual greetings done, we made sure we were both feeling alright and joined the rest of the group who were already in full flow alongside six volunteers from the hosting church itself. The weighing had already been completed during this melee so we got straight into sorting the food into categories.

With so many hands to help, it was a real joy of numbers as we got underway, the kind of task that is the definition of Goodgym to me. So many people helping that items to sort are gone before you can even think of where to look for the next job. Along with Louise, who had done one of the 10 year celebration missions a few months ago, we had Leminh returning to Goodgym in this new year. It was great to have them both back and getting to know a community mission which was new to them tonight, getting stuck in and working hard from the start.

Rauul was also at the Foodbank for the first time, but was soon up to speed as everyone else had been along to this community mission at least once before.

With all of the food sorted, it was time to write the dates on top to make them visible and obvious for the volunteers who would be distributing the food to families in the coming days. I pitched myself up at the 'Miscellaneous' box, which soon displayed two distinct characteristics:

1. Really, really hard to find use by dates.
2. Random 'back of the cupboard' items which are well past their use by date.

Which is where I found the rice mix to be used by 2018, the mustard that was good to go last summer and the Olives in the picture which were at least a year late to the party. Luckily, the more ordinary the food, the more likely it is to be in date, so everyone else was taking less trips to the out of date bin.

I'm expiring soon but don't put a date on me. - Tousif

As the last few trays were being dated, the shelves in the main store room were already starting to be filled, thanks to the hard work and sheer numbers that we had tonight. The only thing that was getting in our way was each other as we began to clear one room and fill another. This is why the task is set with a maximum of 8 people, as too many more than that in the space we have actually starts to make negotiating the area a bit difficult.

Before we knew it, we had nearly finished everything. There was just time for a last minute donation to come in from a local youth group. So we set off with a trolley, brought it in and dated the lot like a colony of seagulls outside a chip shop.

What a satisfying task! When we looked at the time, we still had the best part of a half hour to go before the end of the shift, and everything was done. The volunteers coming in to open the Foodbank would again be able to focus on the day ahead without having to catch up and get the last jobs ready.