Today, the Cambridge Food Pantry received a significant boost from your generous donations. The Amazon truck, loaded with the items Sarah had requested, arrived at the pantry. In response to our call for Hygiene, your contributions filled the car with essential items such as shampoo, disinfectant, pads, diapers, paper towels,  dental paste,  tampons, and soft soap.

This influx of supplies will greatly benefit our customers, more than you might imagine. Americans have always been famous for our people’s big hearts; that is still true, even if our politicians have forgotten it.

(Above, Barb has a fistful of Amazon receipts and messages. You can message Barb, Kim, and Lyle; the form is on the Amazon checkout page whenever you donate.)

This weekend, as a wave of customers visits the pantry, they will find the new hygiene shelf fully stocked, thanks to the dedicated efforts of volunteer Barb. She spent most of Friday afternoon unpacking the Amazon boxes and ensuring that the much-needed items were ready for our customers. This is a testament to the crucial and irreplaceable role our volunteers play in serving our community.

It tears my eyes when I think about what this means for the weary and anxious families striving to have enough food to eat. I can’t thank you enough. This feels like a Compassion Revolution to me. I am honored to work with you all.

Sarah is immensely grateful. As many of you know, she is out to make the Cambridge Food Pantry one of the best in the country, if not the best. A key element in her vision is to listen to the customers and work to get them the food they want and miss, not only the food and items they are usually offered, take it or leave it. She’s on her way.

The Army of Good has been central to making this vision a reality. Sarah is transforming the pantry building to make it bright and welcoming. She works hard to find bargains for the food and items the pantry seeks.  We provide food and supplies that are not otherwise available to the pantry or the people needing its services. We are fleshing out those shelves.

She has restructured the distributions to make the customers feel welcome and treated with dignity and compassion. She does not blame anyone for hunger or running out of money to work and feed their families.

We are helping, and your support and commitment are touching and wonderful. Thank you. As you know, I believe a Compassion Revolution is coming to our country, and you are a seminal part of it.

Thanks for your support. While you’re here, please look at my “Favorite Items Adoption Program,” launched this week. For pennies, you can “adopt” a favored item, decide to keep an eye on it, and send it to the pantry when you can. I have adopted Tide and sent one or two bottles a week. It doesn’t cost much at all.

We’re trying to focus some of the donations on the most popular and favored items so that they will stay on the shelves (or in storage)  for a few days when they appear.

Thank you, thank you, thank you.