Letter from the ED

January 2025

Dear Friends of Stone Soup Café,

As we dip our toes into 2025, I’m filled with gratitude. Thanks to your incredible support, our Nourish Your Neighbor campaign closed the year with remarkable success. In the last two months of 2024, 357 generous supporters came together to raise $56,808—a testament to the power of collective care and shared purpose.

We’re thrilled to share that Stone Soup Café has been awarded a generous $50,000 grant from Health New England.

Stone Soup Café was the only Franklin County organization selected in this competitive grant cycle, which honored just five recipients. This funding is a meaningful contribution that will help us meet the increased need for food assistance by supporting our Saturday meals and providing food and supplies for Everybody's Community Store.

As I shared with The Greenfield Recorder, while this grant is an incredible gift, it only covers the costs of about five weeks of programming! It is one piece of our fundraising pie. Your individual contributions matter immensely.

At the heart of Stone Soup Café is the belief that taking care of each other – in the context of community – means recognizing that every person’s well-being is deeply connected to the well-being of those around them. It’s not just an idea, but a daily practice. It’s about showing up with compassion, sharing resources, delicious food, and creating spaces where people feel seen, valued, and supported.

Looking ahead to the rest of 2025, we continue to be guided by four goals:

  1. Nurturing Our Growth: Increase education around our pay-what-you-can model and engage new supporters.
  2. Strengthening Our Networks: Collaborate with other organizations to deliver high-quality food and foster community building.
  3. Developing New Programming: Expand offerings like culinary workshops and create more opportunities to eat together.
  4. Investing in People: Build strong leadership, sustain growth, and welcome a new Executive Chef in 2025.

In 2024, we prepared over 34,500 meals—a reflection of both the need and the care within our community. Together, we’ll keep building a community where everyone is nourished in body, mind, and spirit.

Join us in 2025 as a doer, a donor, or a diner! Your continued support makes all of this possible.

With gratitude and hugs,

Kirsten Levitt
Executive Director, Stone Soup Café

Posted: to Community Newsletter on Tue, Jan 21, 2025
Updated: Tue, Jan 21, 2025