Vauxhall Gardens Community Centre serves around 80–120 families and individuals in crisis every Friday with short-term food support. It was an absolute GoodGym takeover today, with 6 GoodGymers giving it their all during a marathon 6-hour shift: three hours of prep (9–12 pm) followed by three hours of full-on distribution (12–3 pm).

Our three seasoned GoodGym vets – Brenda, Chandrima and Susan – enthusiastically led the charge, joined by three fantastic newbies: Ayan, Aysha and Rafa. A very warm welcome guys!

Together they left no stone (or spud) unturned: every single crate was meticulously quality checked before crate-mixing mountains of veg including parsnips, potatoes, broccoli, cabbages, red onions and carrots. They also put serious muscles to use lifting, unloading and sorting heavy crates full of cereal, pasta, rice, vermicelli noodles, loads of frozen meats (chicken, pork, beef), cans of fizzy drinks, mixed beans, snacks - crisps, flapjacks & buns, and bottles of various pasta sauces. Once the eye-catching fruit, veg, meat and snacks display was ready, all 6 got busy with distribution, greeting everyone with big smiles and making sure each person left with both a full bag and a full smile!

True to their hardcore engineer roots, the newbies crew even squeezed in some AI chat, sharing fun ideas about how it will change things for the better. And honestly, after today’s session, it feels like the future’s in pretty good hands.

We’re already looking forward to seeing our brilliant newbies back for many more Friday sessions!