Each Monday morning, GoodGym lend a hand to the South Ealing Food Cupboard, helping the wonderful volunteers sort surplus food for the local community. This week, Andy, Martin, and Iram were on hand to help.

While waiting for the delivery van, discussions took a surprisingly educational turn, covering everything from the diversity of banana species to the original colour of carrots (who knew food could be so philosophical before 11am?).

When the van arrived, Iram and Andy got straight to work unloading its eclectic cargo: leftover pumpkins from Halloween, Jerk Chickpea crisps, liquorice allsorts, and the food cupboard staples - crates of bread, carrots and cabbages. Some of carrots were black so needed a good sort. Overall, it was a smaller haul than usual, with no fridge items this week, but this turned out to be a blessing as everything on hand needed to go!

Martin hulked out, moving heavy crates of veg and even lifting a pumpkin above his head - wow! Not to be beaten, Andy showed us all up by expertly balancing a pumpkin on his head... he truly is the MVP!

P.S. no pumpkins were harmed in the making of this food cupboard.

This week’s session was a real topsy-turvy one full of surprises, snacks and a serious amount of cheese!

Things started with the "second" delivery turning up before the "first" - an uncharacteristically early arrival just before 10:30am! Then came a huge drop-off from a local school’s Autumn Harvest collection, packed with donated tins and dry goods, as well as the regular bread delivery. By the time the "first" delivery finally rolled in around noon, there was barely any shelf space left! Crates of tinned food had to be stacked and stored for next week. A lovely problem to have.

Among the fresh goods were an abundance of M&S cheese, wafer-thin ham and (of course) more satsumas than anyone knew what to do with. There was plenty of tropical fruit, including two mystery items which were eventually identified as guavas with the help of Google Lens. Between deliveries, the team refuelled with ginger shots and tea to keep spirits high.

Thaiza joined regulars, Martin and Iram, and threw herself straight into the action, becoming a cardboard-crushing, crate-unloading, tin-sorting superstar. It was an unpredictable morning, but was full of cheddar-based cheer!

Each Monday morning, GoodGym lend a hand to the South Ealing Food Cupboard, helping the brilliant team of volunteers prepare surplus food for the local community. This week, Martin and Iram’s help was especially valuable, the volunteer numbers were a little thin on the ground! For a while it looked like it would just be three of us tackling the heavy lifting, but luckily one more volunteer arrived just as the van pulled up. And just in time, it was a bumper load, completely filling the van. In fact, the driver hadn’t even managed to fit everything in!

As we began unloading, we were met with an unexpected challenge: a wave of rebellious limes making a break for freedom, rolling across the van and down onto the pavement. There was also a heart-stopping moment when a trolley, laden with food, toppled over... but apart from a couple of unlucky yoghurt pots, there were no major casualties.

The haul itself was a good one: piles of cabbages and green beans, a fridge full of yoghurt, boxes of loose sausage rolls and lots of other goodies. Thanks to teamwork, quick thinking, and a dash of lime-chasing agility, everything was unloaded and sorted by midday.

Each Monday morning GoodGym help the South Ealing Food Cupboard volunteers prepare to give away food to the community. Supermarkets and other organisations donate surplus food to prevent it being wasted. Lots of heavy lifting and speedy organisation is required to get a van-load of food ready to be shared!

This week Afshin, Mehmet, Martin, and Iram were on hand for the South Ealing Food Cupboard shift. The van was running fashionably late (well over an hour behind schedule!) but everyone stayed as long as they could. The extra time was spent soaking up the sunshine and chatting with the other volunteers, a real calm before the storm.

When the van finally rolled in it was worth the wait: a bumper haul of juice, potatoes, spring onions, carrots, broccoli, salad leaves, and crate after crate of assorted veg and meal-prep boxes. Sorting the meal prep boxes was no quick task, so in the end they were handed semi-sorted to the customers who were more than happy to rummage through and grab what they fancied.

It was a whirlwind shift of heavy lifting, speedy sorting, and plenty of teamwork!