16 runners ran to help Ealing Foodbank during their busiest time of year, harvest!

This Thursday is World Mental Health Day so we kicked off the session by getting everyone to go around and say hello to someone new. Sometimes a chat with a stranger and getting outside for a run and chat can be incredibly uplifting. Keeping physically active can have a huge benefit for those experiencing mental health problems and here at GoodGym Ealing we’re all about running, talking and sharing experiences.

Lots of us had donations to bring down to the centre last night so after a quick warm up off we ran into the night armed with jars of peanut butter, cans of sweetcorn and packets of nappies (all things on Ealing Foodbanks most needed list for this month). After a lovely run in the cool autumnal air avoiding the big puddles from the earlier downpour we arrived to meet Hilary who was armed with a long list of jobs for us.

• Weighing donations - everything that comes in is weighed and logged so they know exactly how much and who has donated
• Unpacking donations - So many beans!
• Heading out to help buy as many nappies as possible - They have a budget to buy much needed items they are short on and nappies is always on the list
• Putting donations on the right shelves - they have a great storage system all sorted by date!
• Cleaning the centre, something really helpful for the staff here so they can focus on all the super important jobs
• Shredding - there’s always lots of this!
• And lastly a litter pick around the building, it’s sadly a hotspot for people throwing litter over the fence

We split ourselves up all mixing jobs throughout the night and getting stuck in wherever we could. Harvest time brings in the most donations of the whole year so we weren’t short on things to do and worked right up until the last minute!

It’s my favourite task as I know exactly who and how it’s going to help!

This is a favourite task of so many of the group and it’s great to see the amount of donations they receive but it’s always very sad to know this is still such a needed service. I’m glad GoodGym Ealing are able to play a small part in helping it run smoothly.