Jacqueline Francis

Community Connections Lewisham have asked GoodGym to help Mr M with his garden. The grass needs mowing and the back garden needs weeding.

This task was titled "Pulling down garden vines" but when I arrived at Mr K's I realised this was not the case. There weren't any vines and not a 🍇 in sight . There were however lots and lots and lots of brambles and bindweed that needed pulling UP! 😁 I managed to uncover a table and chairs and fill five bags, and explained to Mr K another session would finish it off. Mr K was very grateful and said he's definitely going to sit out int he garden now and read 📖.

Never has a community mission felt so much like shoplifting.

Yesterday evening, 7 GoodGymmers were inside the TRAID charity shop in Lewisham. They were tasked with the following: You see all these clothes on all these rails? Rip them down and throw them in that big metal cage!

Like a charity shop heist.

And so we did. In just one hour, and alongside other volunteers, we’d cleared the multiple stands of clothes, separating the garments from their hangers.

Which begs the question: Why?

Well, TRAID Lewisham have had a sale and these clothes are the remaining stock. But nothing goes to waste at TRAID; they’re an uber-cool charity working to tackle the negative environmental and social impacts of making, consuming, and disposing of clothes. And they have numerous shops around the Capital, including in Brixton and Camden and Peckham.

Why not check them out? Just like GoodGym, TRAID are a renewable force of positivity.

Have a lovely day :)