Good morning everyone. Rainy days and Mondays, right? At least this past weekend we were actually able to finish up the pantry before the rain really got going :-) I've got a lot to tell you about this week, and I'm also going to send our updated list in a separate mailing as soon as this one goes out. But before I get into that list, I need to let you know what events are coming up. Please remember that these events are open to everyone. There are no fees so that anyone is able to participate, and we have plenty of space thanks to the generosity of Living Water Fellowship!
We have Dr Lydia McClure coming to do a workshop on basic nutrition. Are you confused by all the competing claims of trendy diets, and are you skeptical about adding more supplements to your ever-increasing list of must-haves for health? Dr Lydia will cut through all the nonsense that is only designed to drain our wallets, and will show us how simple it can be to get everything that our body needs each day...easily and deliciously. Put it on your calendar now: Tuesday October 10 from 7:00 to 8:00 pm at Stone Soup Kitchen. No registration is required, and the workshop is appropriate for all ages...bring your kids! This is information that tweens and teens may especially need to hear. You absolutely will NOT be taking a spot from someone else. We have a large comfortable room for the event. And yes, there will also be refreshments (healthy-ish!) afterwards in case you want to hang out and ask more questions.
Next, we have our monthly Craft Gathering on Saturday October 14 from 10 to noon. It is family-friendly as always, and there will be coffee, juice, and cookies available, along with the crafts and conversation. Debbie E and Melanie P have put their heads together to come up with a really fun guided project, plus all of the usual materials and tools will be available for your use. No registration is required, no fees are ever charged, and once more, you absolutely will NOT be taking a spot from someone else! When you come into the parking lot, you can park right up against the building so that you're not in the traffic flow for the pantry. Enter through the door by the ramp and follow the sound of laughter!
Now, for the changes in our pantry bags. We are so grateful to Bemis Associates in Shirley: the Bemis Community Investment Fund of the Community Foundation of North Central Massachusetts gave us a grant to offset the increasing cost of food, especially healthy food. If you are privileged like me to be able to do your personal shopping mostly around the perimeter of the grocery store, then you know how much costs have risen. Especially for the families we serve, we are trying to find a balance between convenience and nutrition. Our mission is food insecurity, but nutrition must be considered. We can't eliminate all of the convenience foods from our bags, so you will still see things like ramen, canned pasta, and boxed mac + cheese, but there will be both fewer of these highly processed foods and less of each one in the bags. You will also see changes in foods that are basically healthy, but could be better...like our gradual move from canned green beans, peas, and carrots to frozen ones. Our sincere thanks to Lindsey Miller and her Dad for making that possible!
The packing crew and I have worked on how to transition to our new list over a number of months, and we think that we have a pretty good balance now. Not perfect, but what in life is? In order to maintain our goal of minimal waste, we will continue with our “returns” box and will add two more features: there will be several hard core healthy items listed on our white board, along with other “by request” items. Things like dried beans, canned tomatoes, low-sodium broth, etc will be by request so that they don't end up being thrown out. And secondly, the highly processed foods that we no longer request from the community won't be wasted (they never have been!), but will continue to be put out on our extra table for self-selection. We hope that we can minimize donations of these items, but we also realize that we have trained people to buy them for us starting in the pandemic when we were just trying to get hold of ANY foods. This will be a process that takes time and will never be perfect. We expect to have to make more adjustments as we learn!
If you can help us to keep our shelves stocked, we would so appreciate it. This week we are looking for the following items and would prefer low salt/sugar varieties whenever available: whole wheat spaghetti pasta and other shaped pastas (no lasagna please), low sodium canned soups, ramen noodle packets (low sodium are nearly impossible to find, but extra points if you do!), low-sodium stock (chicken, beef, vegetable, etc), and small boxes of Jiffy Mix (corn muffin or biscuit mix). We'll be at the pantry on Wednesday from 10 to noon, Friday from 4 to 5:30, and Saturday from 9 to noon for drop-offs. And the bin is always available at Shop n' Save if those times don't suit. Please leave a note in the bag with your name so we know whom to thank!
Rain ends tomorrow, or so they tell me! Blue skies ahead, and I love you all <3
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