Stone Soup Kitchen Ministries

  There are so many great things to tell you about this week! First of all, Franks and Firefighters went really well, and it seems that we will definitely be doing that event again next year. We discussed having it in the summer, because we found that lots of people came, but they didn't hang out quite as long as it began to cool off. Good to know! Another wonderful thing that happened is that one of our favorite friends got housing! It's a situation that we can't say too much about because of privacy issues, but there are many people who helped to make this happen, they know who they are, and we are all just thrilled. Thank you to everyone who stepped up! We also received a surprise donation last week from our friends at IC Credit Union . They support us and our community in many ways, not the least of which is giving us advice about handling the money you entrust to us. Sometimes I don't think that credit union employees, bankers, and CPAs get enough cred...

  Good morning and welcome to a day that explains why we love living in New England. No, the color isn't at peak yet, but the air is crisp and the sun is shining, and we live in a beautiful part of the country. Did you go to the Newton Street Festival in Ayer on Saturday? I think that every vendor / organization spot was taken, and it was just the perfect day weather-wise. Mike and I went down to the fair after the pantry closed, where our wonderful friend Jane was passing out reusable bags with our logo and sheets of information on what we do. Thank you to Jane for dedicating days to gathering everything and for spending Saturday at the table! And thank you to St Andrew's Episcopal Church for allowing us to share the table...we appreciate you!    I hope you have Franks and Firefighters on your calendar for tomorrow, October 6 at Pirone Park in Ayer. We'll be there with Trolley Dogs from 5 to 6ish pm. The Fire Department will be there with trucks you can visi...

  Stone Soup Kitchen opens at 4 pm on Friday evenings, located in Shepherd of the Valley Church on Washington Street in Ayer. **For Friday dinner, you must park in the lot off of Newton St and walk up to the first blue door unless you are disabled** For the Saturday food pantry, please come to the parking lot on Cambridge St. It is open from 10 to noon. * * * * * 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. Our potluck this week features sweet and sour pork with 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 loca...

 Well. September just flew by, didn't it? Here we are again, and I have a few things to share with you: one sweet story, one thing we desperately need help with, and one beautiful small thing. One Sweet Story Are any of you familiar with the book The Kissing Hand by Audrey Penn? It's a story about a little raccoon who is afraid to leave home and go to school for the first time. I think most of you know that we share a building with a preschool (where my own children went, many many moons ago!), and that school started just a few short weeks ago. A dear friend of ours gave us copies of that book to share, and it seemed like the perfect fit. We passed them along to Ayer Community School for them to give to any of their littles ones who were having a tough transition. Last week on the playground it looked like all smiles, so I hope it was a help to some of the families. One Desperate Need  ALL TAKEN CARE OF!! Next Tuesday at Pirone Park in Ayer, we are sponsorin...

  Stone Soup Kitchen opens at 4 pm on Friday evenings, located in Shepherd of the Valley Church on Washington Street in Ayer.   **For Friday dinner, you must park in the lot off of Newton St and walk up to the first blue door unless you are disabled** For the Saturday food pantry, please come to the parking lot on Cambridge St. It is open from 10 to noon. * * * * * 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. Our potluck this week features upside down shepherd's pie with 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 l...

Good morning! I will be traveling next Monday, so there will be no letter next week. Mike is having his [mumble-mumble-eth]  high school reunion, and I have bravely promised to go with him :-) I'm going to do something different from the usual today. I'm going to rant. I was extremely angered by a meme that I saw making the rounds last week, and it was just too insulting to ignore. Lots of things online these days are insulting and irritating, but this one was actually in our wheelhouse here at Stone Soup Kitchen, so I felt I had to respond. Here is the offending meme, with my photoshopped red letters over it: It begins with misinformation. SNAP was distributed to a little over 42 million people last year, about 12.3% of the population. That's about 22.4 million households. 79% of them include one or more children, an elderly person, or a person with a disability. I'm not angry about that misinformation, because after all, 42 million people is still...

  Stone Soup Kitchen opens at 4 pm on Friday evenings, located in Shepherd of the Valley Church on Washington Street in Ayer. **For Friday dinner, you must park in the lot off of Newton St and walk up to the first blue door unless you are disabled** For the Saturday food pantry, please come to the parking lot on Cambridge St. It is open from 10 to noon. * * * * * 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. Our potluck this week features chicken parmesan casserole with 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...