Stone Soup Kitchen Ministries

  Good morning! We had a very eventful week, all good, and there is lots to catch you up on. The first bit of good news is that the weather finally cooperated, and our wonderful friends Mike H and Bob M risked life and limb to climb tall ladders and hang our sign on the Washington Street side of Shepherd of the Valley Church. If you've seen the sign near our door off the Cambridge Street side, the new one is identical. The greatest challenge besides climbing up those ladders was to create a frame for it and find the right type of hooks so that it won't damage the siding on the building. Thank you Mike! Thank you Bob! Another lovely thing that happened last week was that we had a visit from some of our friends in the Ayer Rotary, and they brought us birthday tins for us to share at the pantry. You might remember that our friend Carla, Sarah, and crew brought birthday tins in early March. Well, these new ones came just in time as we had given all of those away...lots o...

  Stone Soup Kitchen opens at 4 pm on Friday evenings, located in Shepherd of the Valley Church on Washington Street in Ayer. **For dinner, you must park in the lot off of Newton St and walk up to the first blue door unless you are disabled** 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 our potluck features chicken in gravy, various sides, dessert, juice, coffee, 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 ...

  Good morning! Have you noticed that there's more light every day? Even on days that are overcast, the extra light in the evenings helps my mood, for sure. One thing that doesn't help my mood, though, is the latest assessment of food insecurity in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, which I've linked to below. For as educated and wealthy as our state is, this is shameful. Up to 40% of Massachusetts households have experienced food insecurity over the past year, many due to the rising cost of living in general. In our county, Middlesex, it is up by 11%. That pretty much lines up with what we are seeing...new families (4 this past Saturday) and more working people. I have posted the TL;DR version on our blog, and the link to the full article is there too. https://stonesoupkitchenministries.blogspot.com/2026/04/massachusetts-food-insecurity-is.html Now for the good news...and we are thankful that there is almost always at least some good news to share! We have a ...

  Stone Soup Kitchen opens at 4 pm on Friday evenings, located in 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 our potluck features cheeseburger and sausage bake, various sides, dessert, juice, coffee, 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 som...

When you think you can't do anything to help anyone...take heart and plant a tree, real or metaphorical

The TL;DR version of a recent article.  Link at the bottom. Some 40% of Massachusetts households, or 1.12 million people, experienced food insecurity at some point over the past 12 months, according to a report released Tuesday by the Greater Boston Food Bank and Mass General Brigham.  Households experiencing food insecurity on average said they needed an additional $500 monthly to meet their basic expenses. The report found 46% of food insecure households had trouble paying for heat and electricity, and only about one in two households had stable housing. Nearly eight in 10 adults living in food insecure households had at least one chronic medical condition, such as obesity, diabetes, dental or gum disease, cardiovascular disease and mental health issues. Among those who had to forgo care, 67% reported skipping prescriptions and 40% skipped dental care. In food insecure households with children, 21% of people reported times when their child couldn't access medical or dental c...

Happy Easter and Chag Pesach Sameach to all who celebrate, and to everyone, enjoy the reduced price chocolate this week!  We had a fairly small pantry service on Saturday, because I believe that many people assumed we'd be closed.  Hopefully they were able to get all they needed the week before.  Have you seen the prices in the grocery store lately?   There are some things to catch you up on this week, which are all good news, and are only the beginning of the results from our January Partners' Meeting.  Our first quarterly contribution to the Ayer Library has been made, to help them supplement the food they keep on hand for unaccompanied teens who come after school.  We feel this is an extremely important step for us, a way that we can extend our partnership with the Library and serve more of the population that wouldn't be necessarily coming to us.  The Library is a safe space for teens after school, and we feel very good about supporting them....