Flurries in the air, a beautiful full moon, and the winter solstice fast approaching! Packages to wrap, cards to write, houses to decorate, cookies to bake (rugelach are my favorite), parties to attend, busy busy busy...Hanukkah, Christmas, Kwanzaa, Festivus...more more more. Please, someone make it slow down!!
I love this time of the year. No complaints, other than it goes too fast. But for many people, it's a very stressful and difficult stretch of time. If they've lost someone dear, if they don't have enough time to do everything they think they should, if they're not in a festive mood for any reason, or if they don't have enough money to make it magical for their loved ones. I'm not talking about whether or not they can afford the newest version of some fancy toy, but whether or not they can put enough food on the table and give their child something, anything, to make the holidays special.
That's where all of us who have enough and even more than enough come in, and I want to thank each of you who has donated time, money, and material goods to support your neighbors. Whatever non-profit you choose to do it through, thank you. At Stone Soup Kitchen, we see evidence every single week of what a difference your love and support make to others. Thank you to each of you who has decided to become part of our particular soup!
Shout outs this week are many:
- All the donors of warm, well-made gloves. Cheap gloves are not warm, and warm gloves are not cheap, so thank you to everyone who helped with this. Cookie bakers who deliver to Laurie S, and the bakers at The Groton School. Our guests are always thrilled to receive these little pieces of flour, sugar, butter, and love!
- Donors of special gift food items that filled our holiday bags. Particular thanks to Kathleen O, Joyce + Chris S.
- Donors who ensured that we could purchase small quarter-round hams and turkeys for our guests' holiday dinners and that the pantry bags were always full. People who wrote out cards for us to include in our bags. Some of these end up on the refrigerator door in lonely guest's homes.
- The long list of people who are our “every week people.” That includes all of the folks who pick up and deliver various things for us during each week (from the food bank, the farm, Shop 'n Save, the cookies, etc), our shoppers, packers, servers, faithful regular donors, recycling partners, counselors and tutors, and those who provide desserts and other dishes for our potluck.
- All of our “special project” people, the ones who show up and make sure that we can get things done each month that don't fall into the regular weekly schedule. If it weren't for them, we would be a disastrous, disorganized mess!
- Everyone who has listened to that still small voice that said to them, “I know this is crazy, but you should stop by right now and see if they need something.” Thank you Jess, Alison, and so many others!
- All of you who don't have a specific category listed above, and yet are so integral to the operations of Stone Soup Kitchen. The local businesses, churches, organizations, banks, community foundations, and others who make sure that we are stocked and loaded :-)
If you can shop for us this week, we are relatively low on canned pasta (like spaghettios), baked beans, pasta sauce, larger cans of soup, jelly, 1 to 2 lb bags of rice, and toilet paper. 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!
I love you all, and I hope your week is amazing!
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