February 24, 2020
Relatively new as a GoodGym area, GoodGym Crewe has already made an impression with all the love they are putting into good deeds across the area. Here Nicola Marshall, GoodGym Crewe's trainer, talks about tasks, the community, and most importantly, the people who put their heart's into doing good in Crewe every week.
When you compare Crewe to some of the other GoodGym areas such as London, Liverpool, Leeds and Birmingham, you might be forgiven for thinking that little old Crewe could never have any real impact in comparison. The reality is that every community, no matter how big or how small can be hugely impacted by the work that GoodGym does.… not just for the recipients but for the participants as well.
Crewe GoodGym launched on 2nd October 2019. I won’t lie, it was tough at first. People knew nothing or very little about GoodGym and the concept of what we hoped to achieve within our community. Organisations were a little uncertain and maybe even sceptical at first. ‘Pardon, you want to run to our building and do things to help us and then run back again’. Yes! ‘And you’ll bring 15 people!’ Yes! ‘And you want to do this for free?’ Yes.
As time has passed and we’ve done more tasks in the community, we’ve raised awareness about the things we can do to help and what we can achieve in a short space of time. People have started to come to us to ask for help with tasks, we’ve been invited onto the radio and to community events to talk about the things we’re doing, how it’s benefiting people and how we can help. Community organisations have allowed our slightly crazy, sweaty but gorgeous runners into their schools, foodbanks, care homes and churches to help them.
Our tasks have varied since we launched. We’ve done litter picks, sorted clothes, toiletries and wrapped shoe boxes for the homeless, we’ve visited care homes and done a quiz for the residents, we’ve been to schools and done work to tidy up their premises, we’ve delivered leaflets promoting community events, sorted food at the local foodbank, packed goodie bags, cleaned the kitchen for a charity that provides meals for the homeless, moved furniture and even had a date with Santa as we collected with the Rotary for 40 local charities.
The wonderful thing about all of this is the people. The people we help and the people that turn up each week to get stuck in. These people really are the beating hearts of our community…. As for our runners, bear in mind that we launched at the start of the winter – dark nights, cold weather… and yet…. every week, without fail, people come. People come because they want to make a difference to their community. They want to put something back. We have runners in their 20’s, runners in their 70’s and every age in between. Age is no barrier for people that want to contribute and make a difference to their local community and to the lives of those within it. Every week, the people we help and the runners that come, restore my faith in my community and in humanity. There are many many people with very big hearts and I feel extremely humbled and privileged to spend time with our very own bunch of them every single week.
As the heartbeat of GoodGym continues to grow stronger and louder, so do our communities. What an amazing thing to be part of.
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