It’s Veggie Day at the Cambridge Food Pantry today, Thursday, October 17, 2024. The children and their families in the food program are grateful. They keep saying the Army Of Good is a great “blessing” to them.

The next wave of soup for the children from Amazon is arriving at the pantry today—THANK YOU. Your generosity has been overwhelming, with the traffic into the pantry and the flood of donations from the Army of Good breaking all previous records. Some have asked if the pantry offers food to people far away, and the answer is no. Cambridge Pantry patrons must live in the school district where the pantry is located, thanks to your support.

Responding to the freezing weather, Sarah is again focusing on the healthiest foods for the children of the pantry families; beans and beets are high on their list. The pantry is working feverishly to ensure these foods are as healthy as possible for the families’ dinners, and your support is crucial in these challenging times. Your contributions are not just donations, but the very foundation of the pantry’s ability to provide nutritious meals to those in need.

The Pantry can request food from the regional food bank, but it only occasionally resembles what they requested.

(Chicken Ramen dinners from the Army of Good for the Backpacks.)

Today, we moved the backpack food supplies to Cambridge Central School, which kindly gave the food pantry a bright and large classroom to store the backpack food and put it into the marked backpack bags.

The backpack program is a lifeline for many families, ensuring that their children have enough to eat over the weekend. We number the bags so the school aides can discreetly deliver food for the weekend to the 61 children whose families have requested it. In many families, food runs out earlier, and their children can get hungry. The backpacks contain soup, Ramen, and oatmeal for meals, along with protein bars, potato chips, popcorn, and snacks. Your support of this program is making a tangible difference in the lives of these children.

Sarah chose the items below to ensure the children got some vegetables. Beans and beets are considered among the healthiest vegetables. Cans make the vegetables easier to transport and safe to eat. If you can help the pantry children and families with beets and beats, that would be great.

The unstobbable Cambridge Food Pantry Amazon Food Wish List choices from Sarah for today:

Old El Paso Traditional Canned Refried Beans, 1 Can, 16 (Oz) (Pack of 2), $17.03.

Del Monte Fresh Cut Canned Beets Sliced, Canned  Vegetables, 12 Pack, 8.25 Oz Can, 12.72.

 

(the ever hard working volunteers pack the bags.)

First day at the pantry’s new school room for getting the back foods to the pantry family children for the weekend.  The school discovered that several children had little or no food for the weekends, so the backpack was created to fill the gap, and the Army of Good has been a tremendous and critical source to help fill the bags. Maria comes to the pantry every Thursday to help the volunteers. We hope some canned vegetables get to go in some of the bags. We supplied the noodles, Ramen chicken packets, and oatmeal packs today. Thanks for your food support; it has made a tremendous difference.

 

Note: The Cambridge Food Pantry Amazon Food Wish List can be accessed day or night by going to any of the links on this page or on the green buttons at the bottom of every blog post. The list is updated daily. When enough donations get enough items to last a week, they are taken off the list and replaced with other urgently needed foods. This program is greatly appreciated by the families that depend on the food pantry for much or all of the food they eat. The school keeps a close eye on this, and moving the collection and stuffing center directly into the school helps greatly.

 

Thanks for sending this soup.