After Fay pioneered the GoodGym Ealing partnership with Ealing Soup Kitchen last Friday, four of us sought jobs at a different venue of the chain. Both Ealing Soup Kitchen locations are Michelin Restaurants among the charities providing food to homeless and vulnerable people. Kash, Claire, Jules and Gigi were lucky to get in. The task had limited spaces that had been "sold out" as quickly as Glastonbury tickets 🔥

Kash arrived first at the Salvation Army Hall, just before 18:15, and recognised the site instantly by the queue outside. Thanks to her red t-shirt, she was quickly spotted by Emma, the shift coordinator, who invited her in. Kash got in by crawling under the table that served as the counter. Other GoodGymers arrived shortly after - opting for the other entrance rather than the boot camp experience.

For Jules and Gigi it was their very first GoodGym session - woohoo! 🎉 Ladies and gentlemen, please give them a cheer! Jules, who is not at all new to working with the homeless and sport like boxing, was looking into joining a GoodGym session for a while but didn't have luck until now because of her work. Gigi, who is into bouldering and ultra running, was after volunteering jobs for a while but was struggling to find opportunities - she hit the jackpot signing up to GoodGym just a couple of days earlier and finding today's task!

As novices, Gigi and Jules somehow landed at the washing-up station in the kitchen. Claire and Kash were tasked to sort the donated clothes that would be given to the homeless on the night. Claire quickly came up with a system, speeding up the distribution of the garments. Non-high-priority items like summer dresses, hardly practical in the winter, ended up in a separate bag that was going to a charity shop the following day.

GoodGymers were constantly cheered by Emma - she knows how to keep her team motivated! Other volunteers, like Liz and Laurie (cooking the tuna pasta bake for the centre's clients tonight), were also lovely.

After 20:00, we started wrapping up. Everyone has been deployed to washing up the rest of the dishes or sweeping the floor - Claire was particularly meticulous with the latter! Having two new members, we had a lot to chat about, so we popped into a chai place 🫖 just around the corner and discussed the ~~world~~ Gunnersbury parkrun domination by GoodGym Ealing in the future.

It was the second great collaboration with the Ealing Soup Kitchen and definitely not the last one. We are just getting started!