5 GoodGymers helped woosh people through an accelerated Covid vaccine clinic today. Props to Mark for the snazzy new “Move with Mayor Mark” Tshirt.

4 GoodGym team mates helped at the The Leys Health Centre vaccine clinic. We did the tea and coffee rounds (with biscuits and chocolates - very important!), directed the car park, and Ruth had the super-responsible job of administrator. 487 vaccines administered.

This Wednesday's food parcel packing list was our biggest yet. We packed 43 parcels of food and other essentials (6 more than last week) and delivered 29. Those parcels will support 53 adults and several children and babies. The parcel numbers are rising every week, which is a concerning measure of how many people are struggling in this lockdown.

This week was all about distributing an absolute mountain of tofu, alongside plentiful fruit and vegetables, and lots of fresh noodles. Perfect for January healthy eating - tofu stirfry anyone?! Perhaps a few of the shops over-ordered tofu for Veganuary?

Much as we like a good group natter we're delivering in pairs (sticking in households/bubbles where possible) and staggering arrival times at the foodbank while the coronavirus numbers are rising so steeply. The last thing we want to do is put anyone at risk, so these seem like sensible precautions.

Welcome to Anna - thanks for joining us!

Other causes for celebration:

• Mark did his 50th Good Deed last week
  
• Jocasta did her 10th Good Deed last Wednesday
  
• Samantha AND Laura both did their 10th Good Deed tonight
  
• Morgan's red GoodGym membership Tshirt got it's first outing
  

Well done all of you!

Our first Wednesday of 2021, and our first in the latest version of lockdown. Happy 2021 everything- we can only hope things improve from here, eh?

Tonight we were grateful for a brilliant turn out to deliver essential food and hygiene supplies to people around Oxford. We trialled staggered arrival times, which seemed to work well so we’ll continue with that for now - it seems wise to minimise the number of people congregating outside the hall at any one time.

With 34 pairs of hands on deck tonight we made light work of 35 food parcels, and got them delivered pretty swiftly across Oxford. We’ve managed well with fewer people the last few weeks, but it’s certainly easier and quicker with the full team.

Parcels include a mix of fresh and tinned food, depending on the storage and cooking facilities available to the recipient. We try to give people a range of items to see them through 3 meals a day for as much of the week as possible. Sometimes that is difficult as the fresh food isn't available, but fortunately there was a good selection for us to choose from tonight. I know some of you got a decent arm workout carrying bags of root vegetables! Those of you delivering nappies definitely got the easy option today.

Requests for help are already increasing now we are in lockdown again. It's upsetting to see how many people are struggling to feed themselves, but I'm glad we can be part of the team providing a lifeline.

Thank you all for your contribution. I hope it gave you a little extra exercise and interaction to brighten your week.

Warm welcome to Christie, Steven, Kessem, Emily and Kate who all joined us on a group task for the first time - lovely to have you on board!