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A local potluck and food pantry. We get together, we share food, and we talk!

The story of "stone soup" exists all over the world. In my favorite variation, a hungry traveler appears in a village with nothing but an empty cooking pot, a spoon, and his appetite. When the suspicious villagers will not show him any hospitality, he sets up his cooking pot in the village square and begins to boil water with a simple stone in it. As the curious townsfolk pass by and ask him what he is doing, he stirs the pot and tells them that he is making stone soup. Further, he explains that at the end of the day when the soup is ready, everyone will be welcome to come and share it with him. Eventually, one person ventures that the soup might taste better with a few onions. Soon the villagers are each bringing a couple of carrots, a potato, a little salt, whatever they have on hand to add to the stone soup. At the end of the day, the whole town shares a delicious pot of soup (minus the stone, of course), and they have also learned a valuable lesson about the joys of shari...
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April 7, 2025 newsletter

  Photo by Paula Sullivan This past Saturday left me hopeful. And then we woke up to a mix of rain and snow this morning...but no worries! This is just typical flighty New England weather during the transition from winter to mud season. Soon, soon, I keep telling myself. The increased light helps a lot. And the flowers do too!  Thank you to Paula S for brightening our day. I appreciate the responses from so many of you last week. They also left me very hopeful. All of you are part of a community that cares about the people who are being left behind. Your responses reassured me that there is a deep well of caring in all of you and in our community as a whole. I pray that other regions and other States have individuals, businesses, civic clubs, churches, and other houses of worship like we do around here, with the spirit of generosity that all of you have. In the past couple of weeks, we have had new volunteers and donors, including a new cookie baker, a new Saturd...

Friday Social + Potluck, Friday Support Group, + Saturday Food Pantry

  Stone Soup Kitchen opens at 4 pm on Friday evenings, located at Shepherd of the Valley Church on Washington Street in Ayer. Please park in the Newton Street lot and walk up to the first blue door on Washington Street. Dinner is open to ANYone who wants a good hot meal and some company...no need to bring anything but yourself unless you want to! From 4 to 5, we are open for those who want to get together and socialize in the dining room. The potluck dinner is available from 5 to 5:30 followed by dessert and our open support group, which runs from 5:30 to 6, if you'd like to stay for it after dinner. This week, the potluck will be tacos with all the sides, dessert, juice, and some extra snacks to take home for the weekend. Our food pantry is open every Saturday morning from 10 to noon, same location. Come to the parking lot on Cambridge Street and follow the arrows. If you need food, or KNOW someone who needs food...please come pick some up. Email any questions to ston...

Another hit for low-income families

The entire team that is responsible for managing the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP), which supports approximately 6.2 million people across the U.S. in paying their heating and cooling bills, has been fired.   It just keeps getting better and better.  At Stone Soup Kitchen, we have many friends who have received help from LIHEAP from time to time.  One person in particular, I'll call him George, came to us for help with food for his family, and said that he was behind on his utility bills because of his wife's illness.  Some of you may know that even if you have health insurance, it doesn't pay for everything, and if you are also an hourly worker... well, you can see how this situation could snowball.  No income from your ill spouse, no income from you as you take time off for their medical needs, bills pile up -- rent, electric, gas or oil, medical costs -- and then there is this pesky need for food several times a day.   We ...

March 31, 2025 newsletter

  Sitting here at my desk to write this letter today, I glanced out the window and can't even see the house next door to us through the fog that's settled in our wooded back yard. Normally this time of year, still being part of “stick season,” it's easy to see our neighbors, but not today! It's slowly lifting as I sit here, but it strikes me that I have a choice: Is it gloomy or beautiful? Which should I focus on? I am not an unrelenting Pollyanna by any means (those who know me will attest to that), so I have found it necessary these days to grab onto any positive turn of events that I can in order to keep going. I am sorry to have to start with the “gloomy” news today so that we can then move on to the practical matter of what some of our supporters are doing about it. Hopefully you will find much of that to be very positive...and probably even beautiful 😊 Last week, the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) made a third cut to food that our food banks were expe...

Friday Social + Potluck, Friday Support Group, + Saturday Food Pantry

  Stone Soup Kitchen opens at 4 pm on Friday evenings, located at Shepherd of the Valley Church on Washington Street in Ayer.  Please park in the Newton Street lot and walk up to the first blue door on Washington Street. Dinner is open to ANYone who wants a good hot meal and some company...no need to bring anything but yourself unless you want to! From 4 to 5, we are open for those who want to get together and socialize in the dining room. The potluck dinner is available from 5 to 5:30 followed by dessert and our open support group, which runs from 5:30 to 6, if you'd like to stay for it after dinner. This week, the potluck will be pork and noodles, with sides, dessert, juice, and some extra snacks to take home for the weekend. Our food pantry is open every Saturday morning from 10 to noon, same location. Come to the parking lot on Cambridge Street and follow the arrows. If you need food, or KNOW someone who needs food...please come pick some up. Email any questio...

Hot Cocoa and Glitter Tattoos!

Lin and Vinny will be hosting a free hot cocoa and glitter tattoo stand in the Ayer Shop 'n Save parking lot from 10 to noon on Saturday March 29, 2025!!  Come and hang out, and enjoy a cuppa! 

March 24, 2025 newsletter

  Happy Spring everyone! I know that it doesn't yet fully look like Spring out there, but there are some early signs, including some brand new winter irises (Iris Reticulate) that I planted last fall. A picture is attached...it's not great because the wind just wouldn't quit, but at least you can see the pretty pattern on the petal. They're really small, about 6 to 8 inches tall. And they make me happy. Other things that make us extremely happy... A fun event which is coming up soon is Lin and Vinny M's famous hot cocoa stand at the Ayer Shop 'n Save parking lot. Free hot cocoa and glitter tattoos for all, from 10 to noon on Saturday March 29th . Lin will have a list of food items that we are collecting, but there is NO OBLIGATION to buy or donate anything. Just come and have some cocoa, and hang out with some pretty cool kids! We had a great visit from our friends at National Grid, who joined the shopping trip for the migrant shelter's communal ki...