Stone Soup Kitchen Ministries

  Good morning everyone...Spring has sprung and it's gorgeous all throughout the community. I have to admit that I laughed a decade ago when people in our neighborhood were planting these little sticks that had two or three spindly branches “weeping” off the tops, but now, 10 years later, those sticks have grown into the most beautiful weeping cherry trees, and I am slightly jealous! Spring reminds me each year of how small efforts can grow, things that look hopeless can rebound with new life, and bleak surroundings can burst forth with color. If you receive this letter from me each week, it's most likely that you would consider yourself to be one of the blessed ones who is on this earth to be a blessing to others. I want to assure you that everything you do to help us to support our neighbors and community is making a big difference. We have been so fortunate to be able to partner with all of you, and so blessed to be able to see the many “coincidences” that come toge

  Stone Soup Kitchen opens at 4 pm on Friday evenings at Living Water Fellowship in Devenscrest, Ayer. It 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, do puzzles, or play games in the dining room. The potluck dinner is available from 5 to 5:30 followed by dessert and our support group. The open support group meeting with Teri T runs from 5:30 to 6, if you'd like to stay for it after dinner. This week, the potluck will feature baked ravioli, various 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. If you need food, or KNOW someone who needs food...please come pick some up. Email any questions to stonesoupkitchenministries @ gmail . com (remove the spaces) or leave us a private message on our facebook page. ANYone is welc

Let's help keep prescription drugs out of the wrong hands! The Ayer Police Department is once again proud to be partnering with the Drug Enforcement Administration - DEA in the National Prescription Drug Take Back Initiative on Saturday April 27th, 10am - 2pm! Too often, unused prescription drugs find their way into the wrong hands. That's dangerous and often tragic. That's why it is great to see thousands of folks from across the country clean out their medicine cabinets and turn in - safely and anonymously - the unused medications. Annually, hundreds of tons of prescription drugs are turned in across the country and safely destroyed!. There will be collection boxes set up in the forward lobby of the Ayer Police Department. No appointment, no questions, just throw 'em in the collection box! Thanks for being part of the solution and making Ayer a little safer!

 Thank you to our very own wizard with the scissors, Lyna T.  You help us look and feel beautiful  💕

  I will never cease to be amazed by how people in our community respond to requests for help! We had three responses last week to our question about recycling. Three lovely people who all volunteered to do recycling runs for our various cardboard, plastic containers, and plastic film, so that we wouldn't have to chuck it all in the dumpster. I am so happy about that! As I explained last week, we are working towards being as close to zero-waste as an organization like ours can possibly be. While it might be better if the foods we buy didn't have all the packaging in the first place, that's just not the reality, especially when we try to buy in bulk. Thank you to all of you who help with this project: Margaret, Laurie, John, Alison, and Rich! We had a wonderful visit from our friends at the Ayer office of National Grid this past week. Mich, Sean, and Justin all came and helped us sort, stock, and pack food, and also helped with breaking down lots of stored cardboard

  Stone Soup Kitchen opens at 4 pm on Friday evenings at Living Water Fellowship in Devenscrest, Ayer. It 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, do puzzles, or play games in the dining room. The potluck dinner is available from 5 to 5:30 followed by dessert and our support group. The open support group meeting with Teri T runs from 5:30 to 6, if you'd like to stay for it after dinner. This week, the potluck will feature upside down shepherd's pie, various 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. If you need food, or KNOW someone who needs food...please come pick some up. Email any questions to stonesoupkitchenministries @ gmail . com (remove the spaces) or leave us a private comment here. ANYone is welc

  Good morning! Happy Patriot's Day to those of you who have it off. Happy Patriot's Day to those of you who have to work. We had a great week, ending with open pantry and a Crafts Gathering during which Cyndi D redecorated all of the dinner tables! Pictures are attached. We had another extremely busy morning at the pantry. In fact, we're pretty sure that we're going to have to increase our fresh produce purchases each week since the farms won't start supplying us for another few months. I told you last week that the number of visits in March were way up most weeks. Well, that trend has continued, and April has been BUSY! Here's the thing about produce: we don't have refrigeration available, so only some of it will keep from week to week. We pride ourselves on being as close to zero-waste as possible (a bit more on that in the next paragraph), so it's a balancing act to figure out how much of each perishable item to purchase each week! Ze

  Stone Soup Kitchen opens at 4 pm on Friday evenings at Living Water Fellowship in Devenscrest, Ayer. It 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, do puzzles, or play games in the dining room. The potluck dinner is available from 5 to 5:30 followed by dessert and our support group. The open support group meeting with Teri T runs from 5:30 to 6, if you'd like to stay for it after dinner. This week, the potluck will feature roasted chicken and mac + cheese, various 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. If you need food, or KNOW someone who needs food...please come pick some up. Email any questions to stonesoupkitchenministries @ gmail . com (remove the spaces) or leave us a private comment here. ANYone is we

  Our monthly Craft Gathering will be held this coming Saturday, April 13, from 10 to noon. Drop in and out as you please! This is a family-friendly event, featuring crafts, cookies, conversation, and coffee (or juice)! There is never a fee for any of our programs. All of our supplies and tools are available for your use, or you can bring your own project from home to work on in good company. Stone Soup Kitchen, 41 Littleton Road in Ayer MA

  Good morning all! I got off to a late start on the newsletter today, because Mike decided to stay home to watch the eclipse with me, and then we decided to go out to breakfast instead of going to the gym! You know, just in case there's any truth to the conspiracy theories and all the breakfast places in North America close forever ;-) We had an amazing week, filled with people that we were either able to help directly with their food needs, or that we could refer to other people who could help them directly with other problems they were having. Some week soon, I'm going to have to do another recap of these stories like I did last year (names/a few details changed for privacy concerns, of course). In the past few weeks, we talked with our friends about housing, medical issues, suicide, and addiction. It's a tough world out there, folks...thank you for helping to support us in connecting our neighbors with what they need. This coming Saturday is our monthly Cra

  Stone Soup Kitchen opens at 4 pm on Friday evenings at Living Water Fellowship in Devenscrest, Ayer. It 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, do puzzles, or play games in the dining room. The potluck dinner is available from 5 to 5:30 followed by dessert and our support group. The open support group meeting with Teri T runs from 5:30 to 6, if you'd like to stay for it after dinner. This week, the potluck will feature salisbury steaks, various 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. If you need food, or KNOW someone who needs food...please come pick some up. Email any questions to stonesoupkitchenministries @ gmail . com (remove the spaces) or leave us a private comment here. ANYone is welcome...no questio

  Good morning! I hope you all had a wonderful weekend, and to those of you who celebrate it, Happy Easter  💕 <3 and="" are="" br="" easter="" favorite="" holy-days="" my="" of="" passover="" the="" two="" year.=""> Before we go one step further together this morning, I will tell you right up top here that NOTHING in this letter is an April Fool's joke. I love good jokes, word play, and silliness, but too many April Fool's jokes/pranks are designed to make people feel foolish (hence the name), and I abhor them. So, I promise...what you are about to read is true, no jokes. This Wednesday, April 3, I will be late getting to the pantry. The rest of the crew will be there, so no worries, but if you need to see me specifically about something, please come after 11am. I'll be at a zoom meeting for next steps in the project to bring a medica