“The world is my country, all mankind are my brethren, and to do good is my religion…” – Thomas Paine.

“To be good, and to do good, is all we have to do to be an American.” – John Adams.

“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, I will give you rest...” Jesus Christ.

For the fifth day in a row, Sarah, me, and the shocked Cambridge Panty Volunteers have been amazed at the amount of much-needed food pouring into the pantry building every afternoon—today’s delivery by Amazon of food and other support. I’ve been fundraising for good causes for more than a decade, and I have not seen anything like the connection the Pantry has made with the true American heart – sympathy, empathy, charity, and generosity have always been a signature of being an American admired and emulated all over the world.

What does it mean?

We are a strange country, complex and unpredictable and colorful and sometimes hateful, but at the heart, we have always reached out to help those in need, those as Jesus described as being the last place for people to go when they are in need.

This is, to me, the outpouring of support for this pantry from people all over the country – we call each other the Army of Good, but we have never met or set down any rule but one – we do good. We open our pockets and hearts to those who are weary and burdened.

It is better to do good than argue and hate one another, fighting about what is good for us.

My work with the Pantry has lifted my heart and spirit and refreshed my love of my country. They can get as angry and troubled as they must. We are on a different path.

It is about community after community reaching out a hand or heart to help those left fortunate.

This is why I love this country so much; this is what it has been about at the heart since the beginning. I am lucky to have done this work and seen the good in so many hearts, most of whom I will never see or meet. Nothing can take this faith away from me; I get to reaffirm it daily.

This is our real news, the one our bloated media has forgotten, drawn instead to hate and conflict. We all want something more. We can find it at the Pantry and the thousands of places like it – good people doing good; it’s as simple as beautiful as that. This is our daily reminder that people are good.

This is the real America. Most of us are eager, happy, and grateful to do it. Now more than ever, we all need it, which is what our country is about. No politician or political party can take it away.

There is no political policy or rule in this remarkable Army, no guns, training, requirements, ideology, or dogma other than a desire to do good and bow to the American heart – we help, support, and react for good. The only oath we take is to keep our hearts beating for good.

Week after week, month after month, we have rushed to the pantry in crisis, supported Sarah Harrington in her daily struggle to understand what her hungry and struggling members needed, and delivered everything they needed, from Tampons to Salad Dressing to tooth aide, warm dinners and healthy salads, Thanksgiving dinners, laundry detergent, shampoo, and one hundred other things. They have graced us with their needs and with the opportunity to do good so that we can see, imagine, and feel.

We’ve done more good than I could describe here. You know that.

We’re not done yet. In January, Pantry Executive Director Sarah Harrington will take another step in her determination to make this food pantry one of the best in the country, if not the best, and to make it a place of support, warmth, hope, and dignity, not shame or sorrow. She’s installing a Kitchen Utensil Shelf to help the Pantry families open their cans of food and juice.  She also initiated a women’s shelf for the items women need and a dental shelf for people who could no longer afford to keep their teeth in their mouths.

It is challenging to be poor in America, the land of opportunity. Being poor often brings shame and suffering. The Cambridge Food Pantry stands for something different. To Jesus Christ, who has inspired me since I was a teenager, faith is all about caring for others more than we care for ourselves. There, they welcome people experiencing poverty and offer them dignity and help.

So far, the Army of Good has donated nearly 30,000 pounds of food to the Cambridge Food Pantry. I can’t believe it.

Thank you for keeping the American Heart Alive and for being a gift to me and many others. You keep my faith in this great country deepening. I send the pantry something from their Wish List whenever I feel low or discouraged. It works every time; it is my best medicine.

I’m humbled and in awe of what you have done, and I wish you great good luck for being a part of it. Working with the Army of Goods and the Food Pantry is an extraordinary, just-beginning experience. This is about the ancient and often impossible challenge of loving one another as brothers and sisters, not as enemies and haters.

It can be done. But you know that. We are doing it every day.

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“Ab eo libertas a quo spiritus…” – Thomas Jefferson. “The spirit from him for whom liberty comes.“