The Green Heels of West Ealing

Kash reported for duty at Ealing Soup Kitchen Monday Hub at 18:00 and changed Sevan on the crowd control alongside Matt. The rush hour just kicked in, and Kash was there to help navigate The Great Wave of Clients.

Part of the job was to inform the visitors about the four-week closure of the Monday service due to repainting of the Salvation Army Hall. Kash told the clients that no one would be at the soup kitchen next week and when the meal and clothes takeaway reopens. She was handing out brochures with information about the alternative services for the homeless in the borough. Some of the clients, the veterans of the streets, were already much better informed about such places than Kash!

Apart from a dancing queue-jumper🕺🏿 who claimed it was his birthday, several dogs blocking the pavement 🐕 and a lady who refused to move to make space for a person in a wheelchair 👨🏻‍🦽, the line of clients was pretty manageable.

When the rush was over, Kash came inside to assist at the clothes distribution tables, look for the sizes most in demand in the backup garments stacks and label the newly dropped-off items. Among the new donations, she found several pairs of very fancy-looking heels.

After 19:30 the volunteers started wrapping up. This time Kash stayed away from bagging clothes and the Cupboard of Doom. She wiped and folded the tables instead. Having taken the group photo of the last Monday ESK shift in September, the team said their goodbyes and disbanded for the month-long break. GoodGym Ealing is already missing the Monday Hub and looking forward to returning to the Salvation Army in October after the hall is renovated.