This session supported The Felix Project at its Poplar warehouse, where volunteers help sort and manage donated food for redistribution across London. Its Poplar depot was designed to rescue and distribute 2,780 tonnes of food a year, the equivalent of 6.5 million meals.

The task involved working through two picking lists across both the ambient and chilled zones, assembling substantial food orders for charity and community groups. Items included sacks of potatoes with specific received-by dates, trays of cabbages, green beans, Driscoll’s blackberries, milk with use-by dates, quince, baby gem lettuce, vine tomatoes and mushrooms, all of which had to be checked, categorised and placed accurately.

Once both orders had been built on large wooden crates, each load was wrapped securely in cellophane to prevent anything shifting in transit. The final step was using a powered pallet jack to move the two heavy loads, each weighing around 300kg, to the correct collection zones safely and efficiently.

The session finished with a final sorting task, reorganising packets of number-coded, recipe-specific ingredients so that each crate contained one complete set. It was a satisfying and practical mission and I look forward to coming back soon!

The Felix Project's Saturday morning session provided GoodGymers the option to either help in the kitchen or the warehouse. With Jack and Ciarán both never having attended a Felix Project session before, Ciarán assumed he should join the warehouse team while Jack was directed to join the kitchen team. This lead to a case of star-crossed GoodGymers, where although Jack and Ciarán were enjoying the company of the other non-GoodGym volunteers and staff members, they didn't actually see each other.

Luckily however, while Jack was on a quick break, he managed to spot Ciarán who was sorting through good and gone off carrots in his red GoodGym t-shirt. Crisis Averted! The two were finally able to introduce themselves and have a nice chat before getting back to work.

Ciarán, who had signed up to be the designated photo taker still managed to forget to take any photos, however, since he lives quite locally, he was able to grab a quick picture of the front entrance on his bike ride the following day.

It was my first time supporting Project Felix, and I really enjoyed it, staying much longer than anticipated. Moving around heavy food boxes, I now feel more sympathy for staff working in grocery shops.

Very productive session today - so many palletes and a lot of packing!

We sailed through unboxing and sorting an enormous amount of cabbages on Saturday afternoon’s shift at Felix. I can’t remember much else other than excellent company, super good playlists and a lot of practice with the pump trucks and honing our parking skills.

I was in the warehouse, getting properly stuck into organising and packing carrots. The scale was a real eye opener, lots of crates, lots of lifting, and a surprising amount of judgement being passed on root vegetables.

Most of the carrots were in great shape, firm, vibrant, and clearly living their best carrot lives. Others, however, had seen better days and could only be described as a bit soft, slightly soggy, and, in technical terms, a bit mank.

Working with other volunteers to sort the good from the bad, pack up the worthy candidates, and help keep the carrot operation running smoothly. It was oddly satisfying work, even if some carrots made me question their life choices.

All in all, a really enjoyable session, good team energy. Happy to lend a hand again anytime, preferably with vegetables that are feeling a bit more together.