Crates were picked up! Crates were put down! Many stairs were climbed!

“The food will arrive in vans on Friday evening at 17:15”. That was the information we had, and five GoodGymers duly sneaked out of work to get to Camden food back in time. But heavy traffic, no doubt caused partly by the earlier Tube strike, meant the vans were considerably delayed. Task owner Abi was hugely apologetic and kept urging the van on, phone to his ear. John and Jacqui had tickets for Hampstead Theatre, while Theo had to leave before the vans even arrived. But we were sustained by lively chat, as well as three boxes of croissants which were surplus to requirements following a meeting at a nearby office

As St Pancras church clock struck six, the vans arrived, full of crates of baked beans, nappies and many other goods of varying weight. Together with other volunteers, we formed a human chain to ferry the produce from the van, up a winding staircase and along the upper floor where it was neatly stacked, ready for distribution to those in need

Within half an hour the job was done, Siobhan gave out the remaining croissants at a nearby pub, and John and Jacqui got to Hampstead in time. Well done everyone, and welcome to the very patient Ali-John, on his first good deed. We promise not to keep you waiting 45 minutes next time!

Six vans. Countless crates. And lots of people with positive energy.

We teamed up with the Camden food bank crew to unload crates of food, drink and toys from six different vans. We made a human chain, passing crates of all shapes and weights across two floors, then stacked them into neat towers.

Best part? The banter and teamwork. There’s something very uplifting about meeting new people while doing something practical that really matters - and with Christmas around the corner, this mission definitely got me in the spirit of giving back!

Three GoodGymmers, Emily, Alison, and Linda, came together for this last minute emergency mission to help Camden Food Bank unload 120 crates of food and carry it up to their store.

There were so many foods. I didn't directly give food but staff did. I arranged them by food type. It seems that 20-30 family come and get food each time. They need more volunteers.

Six socially-distanced GoodGymers ran, walked and cycled to assist task-owner Abi at the City Church foodbank in Camden Town. Sree and Leo came more than 8km from Tower Hamlets.

There were two tasks - John no. 1 joined Sree and Sam upstairs, sorting donations into categories. One floor down, John no. 2, Rachel and Leo divided numerous packets of pasta by sell-by date, helped by the upstairs crew after they finished their own task in lightning-quick time.

When checking the sell-by date, It was important to remember what year we are already in. One GoodGymer clearly doesn't want to leave 2020 behind, forgetting that year is now gone if never forgotten.

Those who didn't have to rush off, remained past the finish time, as we were determined to sort out every last box of pasta. When we all eventually headed home, we'd seen enough pasta for one day and decided to skip the mac-and-cheese lunch.