Wednesday 18th July 2018
Report written by Polly Skeats-Beswick
It was Hearst's first Goodgym - they’d called us in to add a good deed to their Wellness Week. Hearst is a publishing company that produces the fantastic Women’s Health, Men’s Health & Runner’s World. So it was fantastic to be able to show them what Goodgym was all about.
We started our night off outside the office for a briefing and warm up. Then we set off on the 3.1km run to help One Big Family. They are a local charity based near Victoria that help the homeless and vulnerable by providing clothes, food, drink, toiletries and other vital items through their small food bank and other outreach services. This volunteer run charity is also present in Kent and Yorkshire.
Once we’d enjoyed the long, sunny run down the mall and navigated the busy streets by Victoria we arrived at Ebury Bridge Estate. Here we met Cloudio, a volunteer who showed us what sandwiches needed to be made - cheese, ham and jam. We had 4 of the runners doing that with 1 bagging up cakes.
This food was going to be delivered after we left by volunteers who would go to Westminster Cathedral, under Victoria Bridge and nearby parks look for anyone in need of a meal.
Our other team, got stuck into the garden. This hadn’t been tended to in a long time. The team pulled up all the weeds from the pavement and cleared fallen branches.
We stayed a bit longer than advertised to make sure all the sandwiches got prepped and the cakes got bagged. Then it was just time for a group photo and a quick goodbye to the the team.
9 of the 11 runners that night bagged their first Goodgym Good Deed and the chance to claim their red T-shirt. 1 runner had actually already run once with Goodgym Greenwich on their marathon training run. Massive thank you to Magda who helped out by backmarking for the group on the run there and back. Thanks Magda! Give her a cheer.
Well done to everyone for fantastic effort and great running.
Westminster
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