Springing into Action

Last night Oxford Mutual Aid was a hive of activity!

First we packed:

• 6 Emergency Food Parcels (for 10 adults, plus children) to get some food to people who have run out.
  
• 40 regular parcels (for 54 adults), full of food, cleaning supplies, toiletries, and baby stuff.

Next we loaded up 4 cars for motorised delivery routes, and restocked the shelves as much as possible.

Then, the big event....23 GoodGymers, plus GoodGym mascot Peggy the pooch, flexed their biceps and stretched their legs to deliver 32 parcels of essentials on foot and by bicycle.
With more than one delivery per GoodGymer there was quite a bit of to-ing and fro-ing around East Oxford, and even those without a double delivery found themselves loaded up to the gills with carrier bags. Gold stars to all those who brought rucksacks and bike panniers so that they could fit even more on their delivery route, and kudos to Ben and Georgia who managed to transport 6 bags full of goodies all the way to Marston - 1.8 miles by my calculation!

We might be out of the strictest lockdown measures for now, but the demand for food help isn't dropping. In fact tonight we had more emergency deliveries than we've had for a few weeks, and last week emergency requests for food support were at an all time high: 94 emergency food parcels were sent out over the course of the week, alongside all the regular food deliveries. An astonishing feat for a team of volunteers.

Thank you to Ruth for the donation of toiletries and to Lorenzo for the Ramadan goodies.
Welcome Lena - good to meet you!
Welcome back Annabel - lovely to see you for the first time since becoming a Mum. Hope you can make it back again soon.