FUN AT GORSE HILL BAPTIST CHURCH COMMUNITY FRIDGE

Not only do we work hard at Gorse Hill Baptist Church Community Fridge, but we also have fun!  Before we opened, Linda brought in a bag of lovely knitted things that her Mum and her friends had knitted, which included some hats.  You know my favourite colour is mauve or purple, so as soon as I saw the mauve one, I grabbed gently took it out of the bag and tried it on - and of course, as it went so well with my jumper and scarf - I had to have it!  Hilary also tried one and liked the beige one, so I took a selfie of us - and she was happy for me to put this shot in my collage for today’s Blip.  Thanks to Linda's Mum and her friends - and perhaps we should get her to knit us all a hat with the Community Fridge Logo on the front!

There were no grotty jobs for me to do today - thank goodness - but I went up to the Cleaners’ Store cupboard to refill the toilet rolls and to get some more kitchen roll, but didn’t have a clue how to insert this into the contraption in the kitchen, so Jonny very kindly said he would help.  He told me that the secret was to make sure that the inner roll of cardboard was taken out and then proceeded to push and pull this, but it almost proved too much for him - I think he needs to start eating more spinach!  However, I did tell him that he would get the prize for the best looking animal made from a cardboard tube!  That done, we went out to the kitchen, with the appropriate tool to undo the kitchen roll holder, but as I am only 5’2” and Jonny is NOT 6’ tall, he needed the steps as the place to undo the holder is on the top and isn’t easy to get to.  We then had to feed the roll through - and made me think of a joke that asks “How many Community Fridge helpers does it take to replace the kitchen roll?”  I won’t tell you what Linda did whilst Jonny was in a dangerous position on the steps but suffice to say that if he had fallen on top of her, she might not be going on holiday next week!

We didn’t have lots of stuff today at the Community Fridge so the rest of the collage is just shots of some of the things we did have.  Carol, a new helper, was doing a good job bagging up rice, so I managed to have a little chat with her before we opened.  At the end, I noticed that all the mince pies, eggs and lots of loaves of bread were taken, but there still quite a few onions and still lots of bread rolls left at the end.

We also had a lady in today who was from the Citizen’s Advice Bureau in the town, and several people who came into the café stopped to chat to her.  When I chatted to her, she said that she wished they taught money-management in schools and then perhaps people would have a greater understanding about managing their finances, which I said was a great idea.  I told her about the motion sensor indoor lights that can be recharged via a USB cable, and which we have going up our stairs and in the hallway, so that we don’t need to put on the electric lights in the evenings.  She said that was a good idea and is going to look into getting some - so it was good to be able to share that money-saving tip with her.

I spent quite a bit of my morning ringing people to remind them about the new 6 week Computer Course which was due to start today and run by Swindon Borough Council.  It was quite difficult trying to explain this to people on the phone when English is not their first language - but I managed - and made sure we had all their details ready for them to start the course.  When I popped up there just before I left, those who were there were asking lots of questions and seemed to be having a good time.   iPads were supplied and hopefully, people can be assisted in doing simple tasks on the computer.  One man told me he had to log on to a website for his children’s school but didn’t know how to do this, so I told him that I was sure that the people running the course would be able to help him.  

It is so good to be able to help people and they are so grateful not only for the food, but also that we remember them and are so happy that we are there every week to help in any way we can.  The weather was awful, but we still had lots of people in at the Community Fridge and this quote is so true - I hope that all the volunteers felt today that they had made someone smile and made their day worthwhile.

“Try to be a rainbow
    in someone’s cloud.”
Maya Angelou