October 21, 2024 newsletter

 

Good morning to everyone! I hope that you were all able to get out and enjoy the weather this past weekend, and again for the next few days. My phone says that it's supposed to hit 80 today! How many more bonus days can we expect? I think this calls for a little bit of goofing off today if possible 😊

Mike and I took a short trip to Vermont last week and had a great time even though the weather didn't fully cooperate. Fortunately, we pretty much like everything, as long as it's outdoors, so we really enjoyed the magical mistiness of the low-hanging clouds, the actual snow on top of the mountains, and the gorgeous just-past-peak colors. We crammed a lot of stuff into a few days, but none of it felt rushed since we made no plans ahead of time! The attached pictures are from the bottom to the top of one of the mountains, same day.

Before we left, my friend Melanie P said that she would take care of Stone Soup Kitchen's dinner on Friday. What a beautiful offer! So then on Thursday, I heard from the Greater Lowell Community Foundation, a partner that has helped to support many of our projects, that we could apply for a grant specifically to support the migrant shelter in Ayer. Because Melanie was taking care of dinner, I was able to sit down right away on Friday and get the grant write-up taken care of! We already knew what we wanted to do, as we had all talked about it before...

What we are planning to do is to help stock up a communal kitchen for the shelter with the food staples they need to cook for themselves. Meals are being provided via a restaurant, but there is nothing like being able to enjoy your own cuisine with all the emotions that stirs up. Cooking is also a good habit to get back into for the guests who are transitioning out of the shelter. The wonderful local volunteer group ANSWER has been collecting equipment and supplies to get the kitchen ready for use, and we are very excited to work with them and with the shelter managers. If you'd like to be involved in this project too, email me and I'll keep you up to date! We'd love to have you participate! You may remember that we were invited to do similar projects with diapers and personal care items back in February and March, and we really enjoyed having some extra hands packing and transporting what the grant enabled us to purchase. Or maybe you'd like to go on a purchasing trip! There will be lots to do.

If you can shop for us this week, we could particularly use more spaghetti sauce and spaghetti pasta, small jars of jelly, canned beans (any type except for green), 18 oz containers of oatmeal, small boxes of Jiffy-style baking mix or cornbread, baked beans, and pudding cups. 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!

Have a great and glorious week, and I love you all!