Planning Now

 Federal workers and those receiving SNAP benefits, if you haven’t been planning ahead, please start now. Food pantries are going to be stressed, so it is important that we are planning ahead. We need to use what we have to make sure we use our benefits and budgets in the most efficient way possible, need to be visiting the food pantries before the rush, and are making some kind of alternative plans. I know hard times are quickly approaching ourselves, friends, or family, and planning ahead is only going to help. We also need to remember to check in with our people and help where we can.

We can do this.

Stone soup

A group of travelers arrived at a village carrying an empty cooking pot.

They went door to door asking for food, but no one was willing to share with them, all saying they didn’t have enough food for themselves let alone anyone else.

So, they went to the river and filled their pot with water. They dropped a large stone in the water and placed the pot over a fire.

One of the villagers walked by and saw the pot with the stone inside. “What are you doing?” she asked.

The travelers replied, “We are making stone soup, which tastes wonderful. We would be happy to share it with you, but we are in need of a little garnish to improve the flavor. Do you have anything to spare?”

“Why, yes, I think I know just the thing!” said the villager. She returned home and gathered some carrots to add to the stone soup.

Another villager saw the travelers cooking the stone in the pot and he asked what they were making.

“Stone soup,” they replied once more and again they offered to share some if the villager would add an ingredient.

The villager gathered some potatoes and onions to bring for the soup. Along the way a few other villagers saw the man who told them about the soup. They wanted to enjoy the delicious meal, too of course, so they gathered their own ingredients to add to the meal.

Villager after villager came to add to the soup until the entire village contributed something and gathered around the fire.

The travelers thanked the villagers for their contributions and removed the stone from the pot (for it is impossible to eat a stone).

Everyone enjoyed a delicious bowl of soup, which tasted just a little bit better since they all had a hand in making it.