Stu Belcher

This evening we ventured to the west of Oxford to help Dean Court Community Centre spruce up their outside space ready for re-opening as restrictions continue to lift.

Twelve Goodgymers were quite the team of weeders, sweepers, litter-pickers and tidy-up-ers!

We weeded some very precious planters, removed grass from around the fencing, gave the carpark area a good sweep, pruned back some unruly budlia and did a thorough litter-pick around the site.

All this was achieved in excellent time meaning we could stop for a well earned cake break and sup some squash provided by the ladies at the centre.

We all then set off into the cold sunshine, some of us to run up a hill in the name of fitness!!

Congratulations and loud hurrahs to Stu for his 50th good deed and James for his 10th.

Ten Goodgymers shrugged off yesterday's rain and the Sunday morning cobwebs to help out at Marston Forest Garden. So much has changed since we were last there in December, with pathways marked out, more trees planted, a labyrinth constructed and dead hedges set up!

With the onset of spring (despite the odd flurry of snow), more plants and trees and starting to grow but that also means that brambles are starting to poke out from where they aren't wanted. Half of the group spent the session unearthing bramble roots with some proving more stubborn than others and several large tree roots requiring a heavy dose of mattock-use. With the area cleared, cardboard can be laid down and the area is earmarked for mulberry trees and raspberries, amongst other things.

The other half of the group spent the morning digging a trench around a seating and meeting area, known as the Medicine Herb Circle. While Goodgymers dug, Richard from Marston Forest Garden constructed archways as entry points.

After a productive morning, we all agreed that the "gym" part of Goodgym was more than fulfilled with a solid workout of digging in the sporadic sunshine and hail showers! Thank you to Ruth for the Belgian chocolates to keep us sustained through the morning session!

Richard, Rhian and Anthony were very thankful for the group effort. Many hands do, indeed, make light work.

Yesterday was our 24th consecutive Wednesday packing and delivering food parcels for Oxford Mutual Aid. We packed 49 parcels and delivered 30 of them, helping approximately 70 people.

The graph picture shows the number of food parcels we’ve prepared each Wednesday session going back to our first one at the end of October last year. What it doesn’t show is our small team’s dedication to helping distribute the much needed food:

We have packed over 900 parcels on Wednesdays, delivered an estimated 600+, walked hundreds of miles between us to deliver food, chatted on the doorstep to lonely people, and got to know the food preferences of strangers.

GoodGymers have turned up to help on cold, dark nights, in rain, ice and snow, supported each other throughout winter lockdown and welcomed new members of the team. We haven’t taken a week off, because hunger doesn’t stop.

Our superstar GoodGym Oxford crew do Saturday and Sunday shifts at Oxford Mutual Aid too (we just don’t have stats and graphs for those!), have helped out on Christmas Day and bank holiday weekends, not to mention Rob raising incredible sums of money to replenish OMA coffers.

A report released by the Commons Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee yesterday estimated that up to 5.9 million adults and 1.7 million children experienced food poverty or insecurity in the six months to February. Those statistics are appalling, but they're also just numbers easily scrolled past. Knowing that people on your street, in your neighbourhood, in your town can't afford essential food and are calling for help shows the human impact behind the numbers.

As COVID restrictions lift a little next week we will adjust our way of working with Oxford Mutual Aid to a system which allows us time to also help other community projects who are reaching out to us. So, it’s an end to Wednesdays as we’ve known them for the last 24 weeks, but certainly not an end to working with Oxford Mutual Aid. We'll still be packing food parcels but making fewer deliveries.

At this pivot point I wanted to say how proud I’ve been of Goodgym Oxford members. We’ve been able to muster around 30 helpers every week through some very difficult weeks without ever having to beg or cajole. You’ve seen the need and met it.

Thank you ♥️

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.