We love a new task location! It's an excellent way to explore the hidden gems around Oxford and spread Goodgym love about.

Barracks Lane Community Garden is hidden away off the Cowley Road and is BEAUTIFUL. A tranquil space full of plants, trees, a bathtub full of flowers and some beautiful art.

Greeted by Hannah and Jenny we did the register stating our favourite ice cream flavours, ranging from strawberry to bakewell tart, and had an introduction to this gorgeous space.

Our tasks were weeding around some flower and herb beds, painting and sanding a shed and cutting back some unruly grass. We were supplied with overalls which did rather make Alice look like she should be on a gritty BBC crime drama!

As usual the time zipped by and after a very welcome cup of tea and cake we skipped off into the light evening. ****This was a gorgeous task, we hope to come back soon!

Welcome to Laura, so lovely to have you along this week!

We've been regular volunteers at the Oxford Mutual Aid food bank for 18 months, but with work getting busy the time has come to re-evaluate the Wednesday 4pm-6pm shift there. A solid final (for now) Wednesday afternoon shift saw us packing dozens of food parcels for distribution, and also prepping some Emergency Requests. Despite the busy shift we found a bit of time at the end to restock shelves, reorganise some of the crates to unearth the ones being collected early Thursday morning, and get the food waste out into the big bins.

Well done everyone who has been involved with the food bank shifts over the last 18 months. You have helped thousands of people. We'll take a short break from the weekly commitment, but do keep your eyes open for some shifts at other times after the Easter weekend - we'll try a few different time slots out every now and then to find something that works better for the team now that life has returned to something close to normal.

Our quartet of food bank volunteer GoodGymers made light work of finishing up the parcels for people who receive regular food deliveries, then prepped half a dozen packs of supplies which had come in as emergency requests.

That done, we turned our attention to unpacking and putting away deliveries and donations, reorganising and restocking the shelves, and a thorough clean and mop of the kitchen.

Great work as always everyone!

Oxford Mutual Aid food bank January stats:

In the last week of January Oxford Mutual Aid supplied 82 emergency food packages to 178 adults, 37 children and 19 babies. In addition they sent out 243 parcels to people who receive a weekly delivery. Those keep 473 adults, 238 children and 79 babies fed. 12 food parcels were supplied to residents of the YHA, currently supported by St. Mungo’s Oxford, and 30 packages were sent out via Syrian Sisters and Oxford Asian Women’s Voice, reaching a further 240 people.

Throughout January Oxford Mutual Aid have provided emergency support to 402 households - 2695 people. These are people who are in crisis and need support on the day. Over 1500 parcels went to people who receive regular food support.

As you can tell from these statistics, OMA may have started as a pandemic response but it has uncovered a massive underlying need and has become a crucial organisation for many people's survival.

Thank you for helping make this possible.