Stefanie, Sam, and Ben braved a chilly Monday evening to run the 2.3 km each way to the foodbank drop-off location at ASDA in Hulme. Inspired by Random Acts of Kindness Day, we dropped off a range of food such as rice pudding, instant noodles, pasta sauce, and peanut butter. All part of the Holiday Hunger donation drive (details below), we hope that the small donation helps those who need it.

Manchester South Central Foodbank have a Holiday Hunger donation drive to help out those children who would normally get free school meals:

"Winter is a tough time for everyone. At our food bank we are currently supporting around 100 clients a week. With the rising price of food and bills, people in our area are struggling to choose between heating and eating. You can support people in your local area by donating to us. Last year we distributed 1033 holiday hunger food parcels to families in crisis. Our Holiday Hunger project provides a lifeline for families during the school holidays, by providing food parcels containing breakfast and lunch items and reading activities."

They also have online pages for donating items:

• an online donation site to donate food online that is delivered to their warehouse
• a monetary donation page too.

Manchester Central Foodbank also have a few locations in Manchester for accepting food donations to provide for those who need it. For other nearby foodbanks/donation points, Trussell Trust have a handy search tool.

There was a February chill with hail, rain 🌧, and a blustery wind to welcome Peter and Ben to St George's community centre in Collyhurst. We were also welcomed by a brand new sign outside that had been installed the previous day!

Once Peter had found the centre, Cath gave us our paint brushes 🖌, rollers, dust sheets, and paint for us to get to work sprucing up the corridor area of the centre 🎨

One wall was orange, to match Peter's post holiday tan, and the other magnolia. Masking tape became our best friend to reduce paint going where it shouldn't while a handy folding chair 🪑 enabled us to reach parts near the ceiling.

Peter was very adept with the roller while Ben cut in and filled in patches near sockets, fire escape signs, and around door frames.

Despite the area size, we out did ourselves by finishing(!) the job in the corridor with minimal spillage, even covering the area outside the toilets. I put this down to the fantastic supply of tea, coffee ☕️, biscuits 🍪, and pastries 🍩 fuelling our efforts. The friendly pup 🐶 helped too.

It was a great way to spend a Saturday morning indoors helping out the community centre. Hopefully next time a bigger group can help with painting in the hall and reception area!

Peel Park opened in 1846 as one of the first public open parks in the UK. In 2017, it was renovated after years of neglect to what it is now - a picturesque and well used park by locals, the community, and nearby Salford University. Next year is their 180th birthday so there are events planned through the year.

David and Stuart from the Salford Rangers volunteers try to arrange a monthly session in Peel Park to keep the park tidy, the beds maintained, and to maintain the park for use by the community. Four keen GoodGymers joined in this morning despite the overcast weather and blustery wind making it a bit colder than comfortable.

Pavel and Gameel rolled up their sleeves to clear leaves from the paths and drains, adding them to the growing compost heap situated inside the park. Certainly put the "Gym" in GoodGym from the sounds of things.

Rhi and Ben helped with scraping up moss and weed growth that had developed beneath the park benches. In all, we covered at least 14 or 15 benches to make them more welcoming to passers-by to use.

Another group was involved in litter picking and managed to pick up 3 or 4 sacks of litter, much of which likely had blown around in the winds. After the hard graft, we gathered for a warm drink and biscuits before a group photo.

Thank you to the Friends of Peel Park for some of the photos and for the warm (despite the weather) welcome! We hope to be back later in March as part of the Great British Spring Clean.

We were back at Fletcher Moss parkrun this morning for event #234. Following the flooding over new year, it was the first parkrun since 28th December!

336 participants completed the 5 km course. Just 13 willing volunteers helped out but the skeleton crew managed to navigate the branches and mud successfully.

Parkrun relies on voluntary help and facilitating these events is a great way to spend a Saturday morning.

World Cancer Day is on February 4th with the campaign titled "United by Unique", placing people at the centre of care. Manchester is a hub for cancer research and much of the work we do is done with patient care as the main priority.

From Me To You are a charity inspiring people to write letters to those living with cancer. Thank you to Anwen from GoodGym Oxford who tipped me off about the charity

For the task, we divvied out the pack from the charity ranging from A4 posters to A6 flyers and even a batch of bookmarks. After a false start a SPACES near St Peter's Square, we gave out posters to:

• nearby pharmacies
• community notice boards in multiple Tesco and Sainsburys outlets
• Oxford Rd Tap who have a small section for posters
• Student halls (Vita Student First St)
• HOME Manchester
• Instituto Cervantes (small library)
• Coffee shops including a couple at Black Sheep Coffee
• Holland & Barrett

The posters and flyers are to advertise their letter writing service, both for people to receive letters and to encourage people to write letters too. We got plenty of positive reception, and even the places that couldn't take them were very polite and sorry they couldn't!

From Me To You

From Me To You also have a letter writing marathon this coming weekend for those who are inspired to put pen to paper and get involved.

Through letter writing workshops, and hints & tips on how to reach out to family and friends, 'From Me to You' charity aim to reduce the social isolation and loneliness so often associated with cancer. Writers, from all over the world, send in their letters, which are then distributed to those most in need. 'From me to You' work with partners - hospitals, cancer centres, and fellow charities - as well as sending letters directly to people’s homes, which anyone can request whenever a boost is needed.

Welcome to Georgina, Pavel, and Sam! Great to meet you for the first time!

Big welcome and thank you to Ivo too, GoodGym founder, who made his way by train to come and check out what we're up to. Thank you for coming along and for the hints and tips for future sessions.

Tonight we had a couple of missions:

• Collect donations of clothes to donate to local homeless charities
• Pick up discarded waste and litter following the high winds over the weekend

Thanks to Peter and Eoin (collection from work), Pavel, and Rhi who brought bags of items along to pass on to Sophie (via Eoin) and the Friday outreach team to pass on to those who need warm clothing donations over the winter months.

For the litter pick, we made our way towards Ardwick, picking up litter as we went. The largest collection of litter was around one of the green spaces overseen by Ardwick Climate Action known as Greek Street, likely items discarded by passing drivers on the main Mancunian Way.

We found a lot of takeaway items, plastic bottles, vapes, bags, and cans plus a purse (handed into a police station as it contained ID). In the end, we collected 6 full bin bags and cleared a green space that hopefully can be used by locals and those passing through. The location information was passed onto Keep MCR Tidy to arrange for collection as soon as possible.

On the way back, a few of use had a light jog back to St Peter's Square covering Vimto Park and Piccadilly Gardens in the process.