Bedlam Farm Blog Journal by Jon Katz

You did it once again. I love and admire you all. Thank you once more.

Please look at the good you did this morning and afternoon.

You got Sarah Wallington to take down the wish list for the second time ever. The AOG bought everything on it, she messaged.  Every item was gone, and as she watched the receipts come in from Amazon, she took them down one after another. It’s a pretty sight.

Most items were inexpensive—one or two dollars—but they meant much more than their cost.

It is pure joy to see that list blank; it means everyone coming to the food pantry in the coming week will have all or most of the food they want ready to go home.

I’m sure they’ll run out of some of it – most of it – quickly, but that’s life  – we do the best we can do for the longest we can

A lot of people took some deep breaths today at the Pantry. The demand for food has been so strong lately that the items she requested we donate were gone, off the shelves, and unavailable to the pantry.

Nothing makes Sarah and the volunteers sadder than shelves barren of things wanted badly; they go home only with food other people choose.

All of them are things the “customers,” as she calls them, loved and missed or their children wanted or needed or were used to before trouble came. The people who come there often tell me they sometimes don’t feel human for asking others for food. This is about their sense of humanity.

Thank you for helping these people regain some pride, standing with their children, and helping them get the foods the family knows best and is most comfortable with.

Meals can be comforting and familiar again for them. We get the food that falls through the overwhelmed cracks in the food support system—small acts of great kindness. It makes a huge difference.

Sarah’s keeping the list down until tomorrow morning when we start again. We’re not asking for anything more today; you all deserve applause, recognition, and rest.

There are not enough words to express my admiration and appreciation for what you have.

I had been waiting to hear from her for an hour and was getting impatient, so I texted her. She had gotten busy, she said, as she always does. “Good Job, Army Of Good,” she wrote. The list isn’t up anymore, ha-ha.”

She was delighted. I was proud. She is thinking about tomorrow’s list.

Thanks. That’s about as excited as Sarah gets. She is a joy to work with, and she gets it—everything we send to the pantry is in the service of others.

I watched the news this morning, which was grim and disheartening in almost every way. My work with the pantry has helped to keep me grounded, feeling strong, optimistic, and worthwhile.

You give me and so many others hope for the future, and I am proud to see and feel  America’s true spirit—we help the downtrodden and needy. We always have, and you demonstrate yet again that we always will.

We’re almost there, with just a few inexpensive items left on the Cambridge Pantry Food Pantry list. The clock is ticking, and we’re on the hunt. “Awesome,” says the woman who never sleeps, Sarah Harrington, the pantry director. The Army of Good has outdone itself,  eliminating 5 of 8 items Sarah posted for under $2.00 on the Amazon Cambridge Food Pantry Wish List last night and three more in the previous hour.

But we need some help to cross the finish line.

Thanks to your incredible support, we’ve almost cleared the Cambridge Pantry Food Pantry list. Just three items remain tea for $2.86, Onion Soup for $1.72, and Grape Juice for $4.34. Several items not on the list, including peanut butter, have also been donated and removed. Your generosity makes a significant difference, and I hope we can clear the list by this afternoon.

Only three of those are left, and two other items—grape Juice and Peanut Butter—remain on the list, which consists of foods the pantry is out of.

Just imagine the impact of our coming together to fulfill this wish list once more.  We are making a difference.

We are just two items away from making a significant difference in the lives of the families and children eagerly waiting for these items. Let’s make this a beautiful end to the weekend if we can.

Clearing out the Wish List would also be a nod to Sarah, who works day and night (and does not, so far as I know, sleep) to get food to the people who need help feeding their families.  This will make her work in the coming week dramatically easier.

She ensures that they are affordable and easy to donate. I know of no billionaires in the AOG, and I hope it stays that way forever.

Here are the three items  that are left  :

Crystal Light Sugar-Free Sweet Tea On-The-Go Powdered Drink Mix 6 Count, $2.86.

Campbell’s Condensed French Onion Soup, 10.5 Oz Can, $1.72.

Happy Bell Grape Juice, Bottle 64 Fl Oz, (Pack of 1), $4.34.

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The Peanut Butter items are off the Wish List, which means Sarah now has enough of them to take off the list. Thank you.

This is excellent news for families, especially for their children. I love the narrative—good people all over the country stepping up as a community to help people in need. That’s the America I love. Politicians, are you listening?

The people coming to the food pantry will be very happy this week. This support has been a great morality builder for the pantry volunteers and those in need who come to them.