Today is Potato Day! Sarah announced this morning. We are on it. Let’s Go, Wake Up Betty Crocker.
Potatoes are missed. They are very good for children; they provide energy, fiber, and important vitamins like Vitamin C. These kids, often living in small quarters, need food like this.
The potato shelves have joined the growing list of fellow empty shelves. Here is what she wishes to do about it:
Instant potatoes, scalloped potatoes, canned potatoes, perhaps the most wanted and needed.
It seems like a long time ago when the Cambridge Pantry got the food it wanted and needed from governments, supermarkets, rich donors, and farmers.
Times have changed, and customers are bigger, and almost all of the above support is gone. We have not gone and have no plans to go.
Abraham Lincoln was pressured to remove one of his most independent aides. “We can’t let him go,” he said. “He’s a fighter.” I think of that whenever I go to the Pantry and take my pictures. They are fighters.
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The lonely shelf of potatoes.
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Sarah’s Potato Day, Tuesday, August 11, 2026:
Betty Crocker Creamy Butter Mashed Potatoes (Pack of 8), $10.24.
Idahoan Cheddar 7 & Sour Cream Mashed Potatoes (Pack of 12), $10.56.
Amazon Grocery Scalloped Potatoes, $1.49.
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The faces of the Cambridge Food Pantry, a series of portraits.
Mikayla, local volunteer.
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As many of you know, Food Pantries and programs are struggling all over the country.
I wanted to explain why the Cambridge Pantry is holding its own. First, Sarah Harrington, the Pantry Director, is one of the most competent, compassionate, organized, and savvy leaders I’ve encountered in my long life in media, TV, and publishing. She is a wonderful director and is working miracles. It’s a rough job. Her leadership has inspired me and others.
The second reason is the extraordinary volunteer force from Cambridge, working every day under difficult circumstances to make the very complex Pantry work. Their community is behind them.
And last but not least, the Army of Good, which has stayed loyally with the Pantry through all of this trouble and is keeping the best items and foods on the shelves. Sarah: “We would have many empty shelves if the Army of Good were not supporting us. Other Pantries are really hurting. We are going through our supplies quickly, but our Pantry is hanging in there. Thank you for that.”
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Today was Sarah’s birthday. Happy birthday, boss. Grateful to work with you.
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Mikala and Janet Greet A Truckload of support from the Army of Good, arriving Monday. Thank you.
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We are supporting the Pantry in any way possible. The Pantry Amazon Wish List is available day or night for independent browsing. Thanks so much for helping.
If you wish, you can help the Cambridge Food Pantry any time, day or night. Every item on the list is urgently needed. Items are removed as soon as the Pantry has enough of them to put on the shelves.
Almost all of these items were requested by the people coming to the Pantry for food support.
Feel free to visit the Wish List at any time to choose your own contribution. Please don’t send money to me. Amazon is the most efficient way for the Pantry and the quickest response. And thank you again.
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Portraits of the Pantry Volunteers. Mike is not one of those religious people who have forgotten Jesus. He speaks to him all the time.