August 18, 2025 newsletter

Good morning everyone! What a relief to wake up to temperatures in the 70s today. My apologies to those of you who love the 90 degree days, but this is my weather and I was so happy this morning :-)

We had a great weekend, which started off with Friday dinner being provided by our friends at St Andrew's Episcopal Church in Ayer. Many thanks to Melanie, Elly, and Ginger for the delicious selection of summer salads and lemon cake. It was perfect for a beautiful summer afternoon. On Saturday, we were able to share nature's bounty with many of our neighbors and friends thanks to local gardeners, the Ayer Community Garden, Shepherd of the Valley Lutheran Church, the Boston Area Gleaners, Community Harvest Project, Merrimack Valley Food Bank, and Theo's Market Gardens. This is such a great time of year for fresh foods, and thanks to our friends Alison + Rich, we don't have to worry about leftovers going to waste. All the excess goes west to some other pantries that serve different days from us! We love being able to be part of a pipeline to share these blessings.

In fact, on Saturday afternoon, I came across an analogy for life that really spoke to this. The author suggested that we would be better off adopting the metaphor of pipeline for our life rather than that of bucket. We are given blessings in order to be able to share, not to hoard them. It reminded me immediately of what our friend Patrick H sent this past week and said I could share with all of you:

"If you talk to any gardener this year, the one thing we will all say is; “It hasn’t been great.” Each day as I water and note the smaller or nonexistent yields, I am reminded of this. And yet I keep watering and weeding and harvesting this season. Previous years when I could provide bag after bag each week of cucumbers, various squashes, carrots, cherry tomatoes, potatoes and feel that somehow this made a dent in the need. But knew and know all too well it is what I can do. As I hand washed this week’s offerings as I’ve done each week over the years of harvest time, I looked out my Kitchen window and cheered myself up with the reason why we all do whatever we can. Because stone soup is just that. If all contribute something then maybe all can be fed. Hope is powerful and everything about Stone Soup Kitchen speaks to that."

 

One Small Thing 

Our friend Sue C talked about how she volunteers at a nearby Senior Center to help make lunches and sometimes breakfasts. She recently spent 4 hours one afternoon, helping to prepare food for the next day. Sometimes we don't think about whose time and efforts are behind the events we enjoy. Everyone keep doing those One Small Things!

 

If you can shop for us this week, we are still low on adult diapers or pads in small or medium sizes. Thank you so much to those who dropped off some last week! The other thing that we are receiving requests for is help with school supplies...the basics like spiral bound notebooks, pens, tape, glue, markers, pencils, etc. We can take drop-offs at the pantry (through the gray door next to the parking lot on Cambridge Street) on Wednesdays from 10 to noon, Fridays from 4 to 5, and Saturdays only from 9 to 10. Please note that these are shorter hours than before, because of parking logistics. Please do not leave food at the door outside of these hours. The bin is always available at Shop n' Save if those times don't suit, and of course during August, you can also drop off at the Police Station. Please leave a note in the bag with your name so we know whom to thank! We are located at 21 Washington Street, Suite C, Ayer MA 01432

Thank you for continuing to share with us so that we can share with our friends who need help. Have a fabulous week!