Gosia helped with sorting the donations for Borough Food Cooperative. Had some second thoughts 💭 as the weather was just awful in the morning, with a heavy rain 🌧 and strong wind 🌬. I ended up arriving at 10:30 soaked with hair all over the place 🧹🧙‍♀️.

Almost right away the delivery truck 🚚 arrived so I made a break and helped with unloading it. Once all have been moved to the main hall, the tasks I tackled this time were as follows:

• - assembling and labelling assorted packages of bread 🍞 - delivery was very large and I spent almost an hour on this task;
• - assembling and labelling assorted packages of rolls and pastries 🥐 - just few packages here;
• - checking and sorting fruit supplies 🍌🍍 - a quick review of crates with pineapples and bananas and preparing them to go on the shelves;
• - sorting a mix of food on the racks 🍟🥣 - all to keep the products nice and tidy ready for the shoppers tomorrow.

There were just two volunteers today but we maange to tackle the entire delivery. Although I was in doubt in the morning I ended up being very pleased that I decided to be here today!

Nathan, Maria and Sam met up at the BFC to help the volunteers with their last BFC shop setup for 2024.

Since the delivery came just before the morning shift ended, we got on shelving all the items including bananas, oranges, bread and a bunch of randomise items.

After that, we cleaned and cleaned whilst Maria cut loads of egg cartons into smaller egg holders.

Being so efficient, we finished everything that needed to be done by 14:00, getting back 30 minutes to head off to do last minute Christmas shopping.

Despite the food delivery coming earlier and the morning team sorting it all out, our presence for the afternoon shift at BFC still proved useful.

We cleaned, cleaned and cleaned from new dispensers to fridges and shopping baskets. We even had time to cut out more egg cartons and tidy up the shop. By the end of the shift, the shop looked cleaner than all of our homes.

Cecily and I were present at BFC this Friday afternoon to help Jack get the shop ready for Saturday's shoppers. From sorting out bananas and carrots to kale and grains, it was a two hour session that breezed by.

We started our shift at 10:30 🕑 just in time to help with unloading the delivery trucks. Once all have been moved to the main hall, the tasks we tackled this time were as follows:

• stocking the fridges❄️ - placing the products on appropriate shelves meat 🍖 at the bottom, veggie stuff 🌱 in the middle, and dairy 🥛 on the top;
• assembling and labelling assorted packages of pastries 🥐 - this time very generous set of 5 x pastries per bag;
• labelling ready to eat meals 🍲 - so the shoppers would know what's in the package and when it arrived;
• checking and sorting veggie supplies 🥕🍅🥬 - making sure they are in a good enough shape to go on the shelves;
• sorting a mix of food on the racks 🍝🥫 - all to keep the products nice and tidy ready for the shoppers tomorrow.

There was a couple of volunteers from GoodGym but also 4 x other regulars so we had a big team to tackle today's tasks. The shift manager was really pleased with the progress and said that the next shift will really happy having no "leftover" work to do.

We arrived at 12:30 🕑 just in time to take over from an earlier shift. The tasks we tackled this time were as follows:

1. Checking and sorting spring onions delivery 🧅 - this kept Gosia busy for most of the time, bet she will be dreaming about them tonight 😆;
2. Assembling assorted packages of pastries 🥐 - gracefully handled by Susan and Stuart both wearing protective gloves and stylish aprons;
3. Packing up bread slices 🍞 - Susan and Stuart prepared a bunch of bags filled with neatly slided bread;
4. Checking and sorting carrot 🥕 and cabbage 🥬 supply - just after dealing with spring onions Gosia jumped onto the carrots and made sure none was too bendy or off; same task was handled by Susan just in a cabbage space;
5. Sorting a mix of food on the racks - all to keep the products nice and tidy ready for the shoppers tomorrow.

There was supposed to be an additional delivery while we were there but it eventually didn't arrived in time. We still managed to fill an entire two hours doing something useful 🤓. After chatting for a while with a shift manager, all three of us departed at 14:30.