It was a blustery evening in Ealing but that didn't put off the 16 fantastic runners from coming out on our second double task week last night!

We met at our usual spot, the wonderful Bodyline Studios who very kindly accommodate us every week, before deciding who would go to each task for the evening. Taskforce member Michael C agreed to take Tim, Alexander & Emily off to The Ealing Winter Night Shelter to be on hand for a few tasks to help their evening run smoothly, while the rest of us were excited to be heading to help A Mile In Her Shoes sort donations.

The two tasks were very close to each other so after a few warm up drills we all headed out on the same route together, swerving down the busy Uxbridge Road, dodging pedestrians for some extra agility practice on our run!

We arrived at our first stop (which just so happened to be the pub!) letting the small group of night shelter helpers head on a bit further down the road to complete their mission for the evening.

We were using the function room at The Grosvenor to sort donations, so a massive thank you to them for hosting us and being so friendly and helpful all night.

Inside we were met by Nicola from the charity who explained a bit more about what we were doing for them, and it was basically Christmas! Unlike previous tasks we'd done before instead of just sorting into sizes/type we were opening up all the packages sent in and donated from members of the public. It was lovely to open things up and see all the lovely messages and notes people had sent in with their donated kit!

There was a lot to get through so the night was just about getting it all open and sorting into three sections, usable by the charity, not usable but good condition so can be resold/redonated elsewhere and finally a no thank you/bin pile.

Sorting the good, the bad and the ugly!

A few brutal decisions were made as unfortunately not everything that's donated can be utilised by Nicola and her team but at the end of the evening we had a HUGE pile of great kit that can be used as part of the process to empower women affected by homelessness to find their feet through running!

We even had a bit of a catwalk show with Tony strutting his stuff in a striking pair of jellyfish(?!) themed lycra tights, it was a strong look!

We were joined back at the pub by the night shelter sub team who had been busy sorting the shower schedule, making tea and walking around the grounds to litter pick and make sure the area was safe. They also helped with all the last bits of clearing up from our task so they really did provide the total package last night!

Amazing work last night, thank you to everyone who was involved! Next week we continue the theme of combating homelessness as we have another double task week at The Night Shelter and The Hestia Refuge, get yourselves signed up nice and early here!