For Ealing GoodGymers' second session at Care4Calais this month, there were more newly arrived donations from other charities and storage units to sort through. There were new requests too from beneficiaries and some admin work to complete.

Kash prepared packs for new requests that had come in. Finding everything that was needed mostly went smoothly, except an unusual request for orthopedic shoes that couldn't be sourced in the stock room. When the pre-prepared medium clothing packs for men ran out, small packs were substituted in their place with the hope that recipients would be on the slimmer side. Kash finished the session with record keeping, noting down which requests had been fulfilled for beneficiaries.

In another room, Penny, Maria and Sevan were working through the incoming donations. Most of the clothing was for women and children, including a bag full of tiny, cute baby clothes. There was a lot of variety in the other boxes too, with some upmarket women's clothing, children's football boots that went straight back out to a recipient and some unusual olive coloured cloth. It took a while to figure out what the olive material should be used for. Was it an enormous comedy bow tie? Was it a blanket? Maria eventually got the gold star by figuring out that they were trousers that tied together at each hip ⭐.

With the new clothes sorted, it was time to move them into the stock room. Here, the team found a problem as there were more women's clothes coming in than were being given out. Netball and basketball skills came in useful as clothes were shot towards the sky, landing on top of tall piles of stock (there was a sense of déjà vu with this). Where no more clothes could fit on or above the shelves, there were overflow bags dotted around the room, which also filled up. Thankfully, the men's and children's clothes didn't have the same problem.

The next trip to Care4Calais is on the 12th of April, where Sevan offered to help task owner Tamzin clear out some of the excess stock.