January 27, 2025 newsletter

 

                    The beautiful windows in our new dining room!

WE HAVE A NEW HOME!!

Please start using our new address for any correspondence:

Stone Soup Kitchen, 21 Washington St, Suite C, Ayer MA 01432

A very good morning to you all! We got all moved into our new home at Shepherd of the Valley Church last week and were even able to hold our first Friday night dinner there on January 24th. It went very very well! Then the pantry crew got together the next morning to walk and talk through how all that is going to operate. Combining the talents and thoughts of many people really helped in this case, and I think we have most of the procedure ironed out. But, that said, I'm sure we will be changing our work flow from time to time as we go along, as unforeseen things arise. That always happens, and it's nothing that we worry about! We are ready to reopen the pantry on February 1st.

There are so many people to thank, especially since everything happened faster than we expected. For those who have recently joined this newsletter list, we were told just before Christmas that our old home, Living Water Fellowship, would be closing February 1. Mike and I were out of town for Christmas, so when we got back and all the businesses I needed to contact were open again, AND we had a place to go, we had less than 3 weeks to move. January 20, MLK Day, was the target, because the church we moved to has a preschool in it, and we wanted to make sure that we moved on a day they would be closed. And then, of course, it snowed 6 to 8 inches!

Amid all the turmoil of pulling off a move of this magnitude in only 20 days, we are very proud that we only had to be closed for one Saturday (pantry), and didn't miss any Friday night meals. We are so grateful to the crew that Kathleen and John O headed up at Shepherd of the Valley (SOV), getting the place ready for us to move into. And to Wayne T, the “facilities guy” at SOV who helped figure out how everything was going to fit. And to Martha P and her crew at Ayer Community School, for so graciously working through logistical issues with us.

In spite of everything, the move went off with hardly a hitch. That was because of ALL the amazing people who stepped up to help. Not only our regular volunteers, but others from the community who donated hours of their time and tons of elbow grease and muscle power. People who continued to work the dinner and pantry amid the mess at LWF, helped clean up and clean out our new space, researched the new things we would need, assembled shelves and built us custom cabinets, transported, packed, directed traffic, unpacked, and moved things around until it finally worked. Even the moving company that we used was amazing (a non-stop comedy team too!), and they finished below the estimate and faster than expected on that snowy day :-0

So it is with great pleasure that I can announce that we will fully reopen the pantry this coming Saturday, February 1st, at our new home. We are still looking for a few more Saturday morning volunteers who would like to help with the pantry. Email me if you are interested, and we'll talk!

We are currently setting up the new protocol for deliveries. Please DO NOT drop off food at the church at this time, but take it instead to Ayer Shop n' Save and put it in the bin near the front of the store. Please put your name on it, or email me and let me know so I know whom to thank. In a week or so, I'll be able to let you know about drop off times at our actual pantry, but in the meantime, please help us to be good neighbors to the church and preschool.

Thank you all so much for all of your love and support during this time. I'm really excited for this next chapter in the life of Stone Soup Kitchen, and I hope you are too!

Love you all~
Cyndi