Helped tidy up the back garden for Mr A

This was a full 3-hour mission at Vauxhall Gardens Community Centre (VGCC), supporting the weekly food bank from the first private donations of the morning through to two further deliveries from The Felix Project and Tesco. The early donations included essential hygiene items such as toilet rolls, diapers, body wash, and haircare products including shampoos and conditioners.

By the end of the week, VGCC aims to support more than 100 vulnerable local residents in urgent need of food and basic necessities, so careful preparation was needed to ensure everyone left with enough.

The morning involved lifting, unloading, sorting, printing and attaching best-before labels across a wide range of food items. These included essential vegetables such as carrots, cabbages, onions, potatoes, broccoli and parsnips; fruit including bananas and lemons; frozen meat; cans of soft drinks; bread and fresh items such as brownies and other snacks.

It was a rewarding mission, and a clear reminder of how much careful preparation goes into keeping a community food service running smoothly.

This session supported Vauxhall Gardens Community Centre with the receiving, storing and packing of a very large donation from The Felix Project ahead of its Friday food bank, which provides free food parcels and care items for the local community.

It was a satisfying task that combined heavy lifting, careful organisation and practical teamwork to help keep a vital community service well supplied.

The donation included sacks of onions and potatoes, packs of bananas, crates of tomatoes, snacks and a wide variety of pasta including fusilli, spirali, penne, spaghetti and conchiglie. There were also several pasta sauces, including onion and garlic, tomato and mascarpone, and bolognese, alongside canned goods such as beans, chickpeas, lentils and chopped tomatoes.

In addition to the Felix delivery, private donations of toilet rolls, diapers and shampoo were also received and sorted, helping to strengthen the centre’s stock of essential non-food items.

There was plenty to unpack and serve our customers, and thanks to all the volunteers who came and helped reach over 80 people—everyone left with something, thank God.

The sun was shining and there was a bumper turnout at the Community Healing Garden this weekend. Four green-fingered Goodgym gurus (Nehal, George, Michael and Katie) joined three local legends (Hannah, Sharon and Thallis), and the boss man Hugh.

Between us we tackled lots of weeding and watering; planted out squash, pumpkins, courgettes and sunflowers from the greenhouse; and filled new planters with soil from the compost heap.

We were rewarded for our efforts with tea, doughnuts, and a lively chat about the best Lidls in South London (don't tell anyone but it's the big one on the Old Kent Road!)

It was a wonderful experience assisting Vauxhall Gardens Community Centre with the collection, unloading and sorting of 2 deliveries in preparation for its weekly Friday food distribution session.

The deliveries were packed with variety: numerous crates of vegetables including broccoli, onions, carrots, potatoes and cabbages; fruit such as blackberries, blueberries, raspberries, lemons and clementines; loaves of white, wholemeal and brown bread; and snacks ranging from crisps, including maple bacon and vegan options, to Nakd and Huel protein bars.

Getting everything unloaded and sorted helped the centre prepare for another well-stocked session supporting local vulnerable residents.