The team was very much needed today - more food then ever (good) and we all got a good workout and sense of achievement by volunteering for this worthy charity. Well done all !

Super-efficient morning at the South Ealing Community Food Cupboard. The delivery van arrived right on time allowing GoodGymers Katy, Martin and Alan to dive straight into helping the regular volunteers to unload crates of apples, carrots, cabbages, potatoes, mango chunks, milk, juice and many other goodies. The haul differs every week depending on the season and this week included lots of venison - although rumours of its Richmond Park provenance could not be confirmed.

Katy then took on the task of wrapping chicken pies in individual bags which Alan then put on display in the chiller unit. The GoodGym trio also helped carry out quality control on crates of limes, with Martin and Katy taking away the brown or squashy ones.

A few final touches around the room and the food was all neatly shelved ready for distribution.

Katy and Sevan arrived at 10:30 to find that Martin and the other volunteers had already received and processed the first food delivery of the morning at South Ealing Community Food Cupboard. That was (un)lucky. There wasn't a long wait for the second van to arrive though, only 5 minutes.

When it arrived, Sevan was surprised to see a DHL van delivering groceries. He was told that one of their employees had seen the operation and asked if they could help. Previously, volunteers had been shuttling food donations from Park Royal in their own cars, which was inefficient and tiring. A delivery service would have been a huge help to the group and since then, one van a week has contained potatoes, not parcels.

The crates and boxes of food were unloaded quickly onto trolleys which everyone took turns to pull to the church building. Sevan managed to tip over a trolley piled high with pears and courgettes. Apart from that, it all went smoothly.

Inside the church, organisers directed couriers on where to place fruit, veg, ready meals and tasty looking desserts. In no time, every free space was filled, ready to receive the Food Cupboard's clients in the afternoon.