Saturday 21st June
Report written by Sevan
On the hottest day in the country so far this year, 4 GoodGymers arrived at one of their regular Care4Calais sessions not knowing what to expect. Three of them had run 9km from their previous task in Southall and were hot, hot, hot! 🥵
Task owner Tamzin welcomed the group with cold drinks and pistachio ice cream, which made everyone perk up and got them ready for the task ahead. Other volunteers had been earlier in the day to prepare clothing packs for refugees, so sorting new donations was the main task for the GoodGymers.
Tamzin brought in one set of donations at a time, which seemed to be never ending. Carrier bags, boxes and a suitcase all made appearances with the priority being separating out the women's, men's and children's clothes, then sizing and storing all of the female attire. Some of the sizing was more hands on (or body on), especially when the stated sized looked totally wrong. Surprisingly, there was a lot of summer clothing to work through at the start of the season. On the other hand, a few jokers thought that donating winter scarves and gloves in the current heat wave would be helpful 😒.
"Those trousers are more commando" - Steph
"You mean camo?" - Sevan
"😳" - Steph
Some more novelty items were found including a yellow "Me call shenanigans" t-shirt that GoodGymers had sorted and packed before (old photo added to report) and had been returned by one of Care4Calais' clients. Maybe it wasn't for them. Kash also found a mysterious object.
"Is this a bag?"
"Or a dress?" - Kash
"It's a pillowcase" - Sevan
"I've got one of those too" - Steph
"Well at least there's 2 of them" - Sevan
Stacks and stacks of the women's clothes were sized and neatly stacked to go into stock and those that didn't make the grade were set aside to be donated to other charities. That never ending supply of bags, well, ended thanks to some great teamwork 🤜🤛. The replenished stock room was now ready for the next set of volunteers to prepare clothing packs when new request come in.
Care4Calais is a volunteer run charity delivering essential aid and support to refugees living in the UK, Northern France and Belgium. We believe in a fair and tolerant British society and advocate for a welcoming and inclusive attitude towards refugees. Operating year round, our focus is to provide warm clothing, bedding, food and medical assistance to people in desperate need. We also provide social support and interaction, including language lessons and sports and music workshops.
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