This mission started with a very cheerful group prayer for the staff at North Finchley Community Grocery, followed by a not-too-lengthy wait outside in the jolly glorious, Monday morning sunshine. Once the delivery van arrived, it was full steam ahead!

Empty trollies and cage trollies were brought down to the pavement, just outside St Barnabas Church, but were very quickly loaded up with all manner of delicious produce (most notably, a surprisingly large amount of mango, which delighted the staff, as well as the customers who were all too eager to purchase some!). These were all then taken back up and inside the church, where they were offloaded onto small dollies for transporting ease, and for the staff to sort and organise.

Once all of the items were organised and divvied out, it was our job to take the spare produce down to the basement where we stored the items away in the fridge, freezer and on the shelves. We also helped with the dismantling and returning of the empty cage trollies to their home for the week.

This was also the day that I found out that I really need to cut down on the chocolates if I want to comfortably fit in to the St Barnabas Church lift with five dismantled cage trollies…

The weather may have been miserable, but everyone was certainly in high spirits! Including the Tesco deliverymen who had turned up (much to the surprise of Claire, the manager at the North Finchley Community Grocer) earlier than expected! And so, as soon as we arrived for our mission, we had the quickest of introductions and then it was straight on to helping bring the cage trolleys (which were filled with fresh fruit and veg as well as bread and cartons of oat milk) up the winding slope to the entrance.

Once all of the produce was inside, and the empty crates had been returned to the Tesco deliverymen, the volunteers quickly divvied out the goods for storage and sale and brought them to their respective locations. Once done, we dismantled the cage trolleys, ready to be stored.

Subham headed into the store to help out with restocking the shelves, while Jack headed down into the basement with Kenny, (who enthusiastically regaled him with story of when he wore a kilt in Thailand for his wedding!), to store the extra produce in the various store rooms and fridges!

As we said our thanks and goodbyes, the store was bustling with customers, which on a grey, rainy Monday, was wonderful to see!

Packing a punch for Mr P

Subham and I came together at short notice for a GoodGym community mission to support Barnet Council’s Wellbeing team.

Mr P was being transferred to more suitable accommodation to better support his needs, and he needed help boxing up his belongings ready for collection on Monday. We met Mr P, along with others involved in his care, and quickly got stuck into the task.

It was a simple but useful job: packing clothes and personal items carefully so they could be moved on smoothly. As ever with GoodGym, we also managed to combine helping out with a bit of exercise — I cycled over and Subham ran from home, making it a very local active mission.

Afterwards, we stopped for a drink at a nearby Italian café and reflected on how small practical actions can make a real difference at moments of change.

We hope Mr P settles well into his new home — and that he does not have too much trouble finding the clothes he needs when he gets there!