The Circular Eatconomy

Kash, Ricardo and Sevan spent the afternoon at Bethnal Green Food Bank upgrading their food bank skills. Kash was assigned to Team Baby to prepare childrens' food bags, while Ricardo and Sevan were put into team In-n-Out to prepare the space outside the food bank and to bring deliveries into the storage areas.

Ricardo and Sevan started on the easy level, erecting one gazebo at a time for new clients to register at on Monday, learning from each one and applying their improved skills to the next. Kash too was on Level 1 of preparing baby bags, with each bag containing a tin of beans, one of mandarins and some baby wash.

Once the team had mastered the beginner level, they were given a more complicated task. For Kash, level 2 added a tinned pudding to the mix for an extra little bit of complexity. Beans, mandarins, wash, pudding. Beans, mandarins, wash, pudding. For Sevan and Ricardo, their task was different, to deliver tables and chairs ready to be placed outside first thing in the morning. Lift, walk, avoid collisions, drop. Lift, walk, avoid collisions, drop.

For the next level, Kash had 5 things to remember with a jar of jam added to the bag. Beans, mandarins, wash, pudding, jam. Beans, mandarins, wash, pudding, jam. Sevan and Ricardo had a delivery to unload. Ricardo was unloading boxes of fruit and veg onto each trolley while Sevan wheeled the trolleys to the fridge and back, to the fridge and back, to the fridge and back...

Finally, all 3 joined forces to fill the main grocery bags. Here too, they were going in circles, repeating their steps. Ricardo was ripping open boxes over and over to keep the pickers fed. Sevan and Kash picked, walking in small circles around the stock room. Bag, milk, cereal, tins of tomatoes, beans, pilchards and tuna. Bag, milk, cereal, tins of tomatoes, beans, pilchards and tuna. So it went until all the bags were filled.

After the repetition of the first 2 hours. The last task of a day was very different. A fresh food delivery had arrived in crates and it needed to be split into dairy, meat, fruit, veg, "other" and expired. Everyone dived into the crates to see what they could find. Salad leaves, coconut and grapes could all be found together, or chicken biryani with tomatoes and bread. The volunteers were like ants scurrying around, trying to group them sensibly before they were all moved into the fridge.

It was great to work in a big team during the shift to prepare so many food bags for those in need. You can find future sessions to help Bethnal Green Food Bank here