Kat, Danny, Harvey, and Iram showed up in the quiet days between Christmas and New Year to keep the South Ealing Food Cupboard running smoothly.

In true seasonal style, Santa clearly needed to review his logistics - the second delivery van arrived first, and the first turned up later! Luckily both when GoodGymers were present! Despite the topsy-turvy timings, the team got straight to work. Danny, Harvey and Kat handled the heavy lifting, unloading the van and hauling crate after crate to the door while Irām helped with sorting and organisation.

The festive feast included mountains of carrots, pumpkins, turnips, cauliflower, pigs in blankets pizza, herbs, HelloFresh bags and loads of oranges. The citrus fruit needed careful sorting as many weren’t fit for stocking distribution. It was a bumper haul and most of the unpacking was impressively wrapped up within the hour!

The delivery van had turned up early at the South Ealing Community Food Cupboard this week, so when GoodGymers Evelyn, Alan and Martin arrived, it initially looked like the regular volunteer team had done all of the work.

However, although the van had been unloaded and crates put in place around the room, there were still plenty of tasks left to help with and the team spent an enjoyable session performing quality control on boxes of tangerines, portioning grapes into bags and flattening cardboard boxes.

The team reckoned that this week's selection contained all of the fruit and veg needed for a Christmas Day feast...with the exception of sprouts, an omission that divided opinion.

It was all hands on deck at the South Ealing Food Cupboard this morning, with the delivery unloaded and the shelves stacked in record time. Stef, James, and Nicola worked efficiently as a team to get everything ready for distribution. It was James and Nicola’s first GoodGym session, and they jumped straight in — helping unload crates, stack shelves, and keep things moving smoothly from start to finish. The haul was full of seasonal favourites, with plenty of Brussels sprouts and mountains of potatoes arriving just in time for some early Christmas dinners. Thanks to the extra hands and great teamwork, everything was sorted swiftly, leaving the cupboard well stocked and ready for the community.

This Monday's volunteering session at the Ealing Food Cupboard was a quiter one, with just one GoodGymmer in attendance. The food delivery arrived a bit later than scheduled but the delay didn't dampen the progress of the session. Thanks to the help of the regular church volunteers, the crates were quickly unloaded and the generous variety of fruits and vegetables had been successfully organised and prepared for distribution. Today was marked by Beata's 50th good deed as well.

It felt like a full harvest festival at the South Ealing Food Cupboard this week. Stef, Beata, Martin and Iram were on hand to help unload the van and stack the shelves for what turned out to be a bumper haul.

Crates arrived stacked with fresh produce, including cabbages genuinely bigger than our heads, heaps of carrots, plenty of green cabbages and mountains of potatoes. Mixed in with the veg were some more unusual arrivals: caramel popcorn, fruit-cake slices and bottles of fruity sparkling water - an eclectic combination that kept things interesting. A large delivery of loose green grapes needed portioning, so Stef, Beata, and Iram jumped straight into action, filling reused shopping bags to create generous, ready-to-hand-out servings.

Drizzly weather set the scene at the South Ealing Food Cupboard today, but the team were grateful that most of the delivery arrived on a single large pallet. This meant far less trekking back and forth in the rain with trolleys!

This week's haul was very punctual and consisted of crates of beautiful pre-squashed squashes, heaps of red and green cabbages, and turnips so enormous they were perfect for either weightlifting or clobbering someone like a cartoon cave-person. The fridge section brought an abundance of orange juice, mince and sausage rolls.

It was Stef’s first GoodGym session, and she jumped straight in, hauling heavy crates and flattening cardboard likea pro. She joined Martin and Iram, who helped sort through today’s produce and prep the cupboard for distribution. Everything was done and dusted well before 11:30am!