Bedlam Farm Blog Journal by Jon Katz

Good day. Pantry Executive Director Sarah Harrington’s message to me today is: “Jon, today’s Item is salad dressing—Italian, Ranch, or Ceasar.”  All three can be donated for under $3.

We appreciate your support in this critical work. This food dressing is crucial as it adds flavor to the meals of the Pantry families. It is often missing and only lasts for a short time on the shelves. The pantry families are eternally grateful.

Sarah is always conscious of the cost of things and looks for items that can be purchased inexpensively, if possible. It isn’t always possible to be this low, but it was yesterday, and it is today. I’m sending one of each of the salad dressings.

The three options were chosen because all salad dressings are different and have different tastes. They are in great demand, and the pantry is out of all of them.

The Pantry families rarely get to make a choice; we thought this would be an important addition for them and their children. All three are available for donation at the top of the Amazon Pantry Food Wish List and linked individually to the list below.

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Option One: Wish-Bone House Italian Salad Dressing Bottle, 15 Fl. Oz., $2.67.

Option Two:  Kraft Classic Ranch Salad Dressing (16 fl oz Bottle), $2.98.

Option Three:  Kraft Salad Dressing Ceasar, 16 Oz., Bottle, $2.98.

All three are less than 9 dollars.

I’ve met many non-profit volunteers over the past few years, but I can’t recall any who have worked as long and hard as the pantry volunteers. They were all soaked in sweat yesterday when they unloaded hundreds of heavy boxes and bottles from the Food Bank truck.

Thanks so much for making this work worthwhile, uplifting, and excellent for the morale of struggling and needy people. It’s not easy volunteering at the pantry, and it’s not easy to be unable to afford food for your family. “When I see this wonderful food coming  onto the shelves,  it makes me and my children feel human,” one of the Pantry family fathers told me in an e-mail, “be sure to thank these people for me.”

I went to the Cambridge Food Pantry today to see the big truck from the Food Bank deliver a load. There were only three or four volunteers there today. I tried to carry some boxes off the truck, but I knew it was foolish. It’s hard for me to see Sarah and those good people working so hard while I take pictures, but I love to take pictures, and I can’t carry heavy loads of bottles. So I stopped after my back sent a pointed warning.

(Reminder: today’s two choices are under $3 and will help hundreds of people. The choices are Happy Bell Grated Parmesan Cheese Shaker, $296, and Progresso, Italian Style Bread Crumbs, 15. Oz, $2.17. ) You can find them both on the Amazon Cambridge Pantry Wish List. )Thank you.

I love taking pictures in the pantry; it has deep religious and historical roots and character. The building screams of feeling and faith. For decades, pastors and people of faith have kept the pantry growing; there is still a church at the end of the building, and services are on Sundays. I also wanted you to see what you have wrought.

Those children will have big healthy food backpacks on Thursday.

(The pantry has a new sign.)

Christianity has always had significant meaning for me, even though I am not a Christian.

The idea of doing good and helping the needy is still strong. I can still feel it in the walls of the Cambridge Pantry. Sarah has a challenging role, and she was out there on the front lines today, hauling boxes back and forth and telling people where they would go. This kind of volunteer work is different from most non-profit volunteer work. It is very physical.

There is a lot of heavy lifting, hauling, and stacking.

When it was over, everybody was in a deep sweat and exhausted. Tomorrow, I’ll post some of the photos I took today; I want to post some of the things the Army Of Good is sending so you can see where your generous contributions are going and how wonderful the volunteers are.

We put out an SOS for creamy peanut butter, and the shelves are full. Every kid getting a backpack will have his or her jar of peanut butter on Thursday, and there will be enough left over to go on the shelves for the adults. Thank you; you made a lot of people happy this week.

The people who come to the pantry rarely have dishwashers, so this dish soap, sent by the Army of Goods, is on the shelves and will be gone soon. It is the most popular dishwashing detergent for families who come to the food pantry needing help.

Thanks to you, Sarah asked for Tide, and they got it. This week, I’ll continue to post pictures of the foods and products you are sending so you can see where your money has gone. There is no bureaucracy, no middle man here; the food goes right where it belongs, no turns or twists.

Yesterday, Sarah reported that the Army of Goods’ total donation for April was $3,828 lbs of goods and products, more than 800 lbs more than the AOG sent the previous month. Tomorrow, I’ll put up some photos showing the complex and challenging work the volunteers—Sarah, too — do at the pantry daily. These people are worthy of our support and acknowledgment, and so are the children we focus on and the families we help when we can.

Sarah is the first Pantry Director to have an e-mail address and is searching for news and modern ways to get support. We are one of those ways.

Thanks again. I can’t think of enough words or ways to thank you on behalf of the pantry and the families who need its help. THANK You!

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A reminder for people who live in the Cambridge area – Vermont, the Berkshires, the Adirondacks, or locally – that there is a new address for donations sent to the food pantry if they are boxed or in sealed containers:

It is: The Cambridge Food Pantry, 59 S. Park Street, Cambridge, N.Y., 12816. We have purchased a big plastic animal-proof container out front for your donations.

For the Army of Good, things will remain the same. The Amazon Wish List donations will automatically be sent to this new address.