As part of the DEX Together spotlight series, DEX Guardian Ariane shares her experience of volunteering with GoodGym in London and the many benefits that volunteering has provided her.
Getting fit by doing good
GoodGym is a community of people who believe in getting fit while doing good. It was founded to address loneliness in the city and operates in over 60 areas across the UK.
Q&A with Ariane
It’s essentially a running club combined with volunteering, although running isn’t essential! Active travel is the main thing – run, walk, or cycle to do useful things in the community. We get fit by doing good!
It’s super flexible, and there are so many opportunities to get involved in. Sessions don’t last longer than 90 minutes, and most are held in the evenings or on weekends, making it easy to fit them into a working schedule.
It’s also really varied – you get to try a lot of different things! You can join group runs or community missions for something social, or complete a DBS check and complete some training to assist older people with tasks (e.g., gardening, unpacking) in their homes. It’s an easy way to know you’ve made something good happen.
There’s no such thing as an average GoodGym shift! In the last month, I’ve helped prune trees in a park, bag up soil for a horticultural charity, make clothes parcels for refugees, unpack food bank deliveries, supported my local junior ParkRun, and tidied the garden for an older gentleman in my neighbourhood. You don’t need any particular skills, just be happy to get stuck in and move some stuff around.
Photo shared by Ariane taken during a GoodGym session.
GET INVOLVED WITH DEX TOGETHER
At DEX, we harness our community’s collective power for positive impact through DEX Together, our volunteer initiative for guardians and our team.
We encourage our team and staff to contribute their time and skills to meaningful causes, like GoodGym, in their communities on a schedule that suits them.
