Stone Soup Kitchen Ministries

The TL;DR version of a recent article.  Link at the bottom. Some 40% of Massachusetts households, or 1.12 million people, experienced food insecurity at some point over the past 12 months, according to a report released Tuesday by the Greater Boston Food Bank and Mass General Brigham.  Households experiencing food insecurity on average said they needed an additional $500 monthly to meet their basic expenses. The report found 46% of food insecure households had trouble paying for heat and electricity, and only about one in two households had stable housing. Nearly eight in 10 adults living in food insecure households had at least one chronic medical condition, such as obesity, diabetes, dental or gum disease, cardiovascular disease and mental health issues. Among those who had to forgo care, 67% reported skipping prescriptions and 40% skipped dental care. In food insecure households with children, 21% of people reported times when their child couldn't access medical or dental c...

  Call us SJWs all you want...it's a compliment. This is for all of our friends in the Ayer/Shirley community. It's time to think this meme through again. Like many towns throughout Massachusetts, our small town has been (saddled/chosen/gifted...what verb would you use?) with a large group of immigrants.  This has caused some folks to be displaced from the motel which was chosen for the shelter.  Some residents are acting like this is an unsolvable problem, and they are using every platform available to scream their complaints rather than to help.  Their vitriolic comments tangle up the posts so that the person asking a question about how to help cannot even find the answers.      Either help, or at least get out of the way.  

  VS At Stone Soup Kitchen's food pantry, we offer the following:  Regular pantry bags with some whole foods and some processed foods Healthier alternative pantry bags with ingredients rather than processed foods Meal-starter bags with ingredients and recipes Fresh produce, year-round Classes and workshops on health, nutrition, and cooking The problem: Guess what never gets left behind in our returns box?  The processed foods Very few people want the healthier alternative bags Only those same few people want the meal-starter bags Not everyone takes the fresh produce The classes and workshops are fun, but don't seem to lead to lasting change The reasons: Differences in cost and availability of healthy foods Inexperience with whole foods and cooking them Addiction to the ultra-processed foods' additives Solutions? Realize that our mission is primarily hunger, not nutrition or health, although these are extremely important to continue working on Continue to make the healthie...

July 31, 2023 story by CNN: The House legislation would cut WIC – which serves about 6.6 million women, infants and young children – in two ways. It would reduce funding for fiscal 2024 to $5.5 billion, which would be $185 million less than this fiscal year’s level and $800 million less than the Senate bill would provide. But it would also slash the program’s enhanced fruit and vegetable benefit, which was initially authorized by the Democrats’ American Rescue Plan Act in 2021 and then renewed with bipartisan support in subsequent appropriations bills. Enrollees would receive between $11 and $15 a month to purchase fresh produce in fiscal 2024, down from $25 to $49 this year. CNN Article Image: Canva