February 16, 2026 newsletter

Good morning everyone!  Last week was chock full of the Olympics for Mike and me.  I love watching much of the world coming together to celebrate excellence in sports.  I know that not everyone is as thrilled by the sportsy-ball stuff (To quote my grown children! Whose are they, anyway?) as we are, but we just love every minute of it.

In other news, Stone Soup Kitchen has also been celebrating the excellence shown by our Partners, Participants, and Allies.  When I sent out the list last week that we generated at our meeting in January, I didn't know that some people were going to take that as a challenge!  While the board of trustees of SSK will be deciding what major directions we will be following, several people looked at the smaller things on the list and said to themselves (I'm imagining...), "Heck, I can do that right now."  Thus we ended up with special treat bags for the Super Bowl and also themed bags for Valentine's Day!  So a special thank you goes out to Jane, Sarah, Carla, and Lora, and to many others as well.  

Projects like those are always welcome.  We have a group of cookie bakers who keep us supplied with homemade treats, organized by Laurie S.  There are many people over the years who have made a stack of encouragement cards or holiday-themed cards for us to put into our pantry bags, just to let people know they are loved.  There are folks who organize food drives at their place of work, in the neighborhoods or schools.  There are people who hang out at our Coffee Bar and provide friendly conversation for those who need some extra human interaction.  Some folks come and share their talents with us during our hour before dinner.  In the past, we've focused on health issues, how town government works, and financial topics, among other things.  We're open to more!  Do you have a talent you'd like to share or would you like to get involved in any of the projects above?  Hit me up!

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One Small Thing

Our friend Louis brought us bins full of small items like make up, hair scrunchies, and small toys that were going to be thrown out by a store.  We have had them out during the pantry hours for a few weeks now, and people have been delighted to have the opportunity to pick through them.  Many of the items are duplicates, so we are now going to see if there are some other organizations that would like to be able to share them too.   

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If you can shop for us this week, we will gratefully take anything off of our complete pantry list.  We are still low on pudding cups, which we use for our Friday night snack bags.  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 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: 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   

Have a great week, and please keep being the awesome humans that you are!