Lemons to Lemonade: How YOU Filled Our Year With Hope & Community

As our team heads into their second round of vaccinations, we’re taking a moment to reflect on the last 12 months

through a new set of eyes. First and foremost - we have a vaccine. We’re not out of the woods yet, but we’re overjoyed to look toward a summer and fall in which we can hopefully get back to our favorite activity: gathering with our closest friends again, trading laughs and stories around a dinner table. Cherishing the small acts of community that we’ll never take for granted again.

While we’re grateful for the future, the fact that we’re able to be here, sharing in your daily lives and connecting through your weekly meals, is really due to your friendship and generosity this past year. Our Tiny Spoon family has been there for us at every turn, and we hope we were able to provide a little bit of comfort in uncertain times in return - and we can’t thank you enough. With that spirit of gratitude and cautious optimism, we want to share with you some of the milestones that made this past year one of strength, community, and love.

And we want to thank you - our wonderful clients and friends - for bringing it all together.

Our “Feed a Healthcare Worker” Project:

At the very beginning of the pandemic, a client came to us with an idea: to “donate” their weekly service to a deserving local healthcare worker while their family was quarantining in another state. Of course, we were floored. This was not only a heartfelt gesture to Tiny Spoon, whose future as a small business was uncertain in the wake of the pandemic, but it allowed us to focus on bringing a little bit of comfort into the lives of a few local people making the ultimate sacrifice on the frontlines of Covid. In a word, we were touched.

As our client base caught wind of this “donation” idea, more people began stepping up and donating weeks of meals to healthcare workers and their families all over Boston. Even more meaningfully, we chose those recipients based on community nominations - allowing us to deliver not only warm meals, but heartfelt messages from the people whose lives had been touched by these healthcare workers in particular. Guys...sometimes your community overwhelms you with their spirit and generosity. It was a wild and wonderful few months. What’s more, with your help we were able to feed NINE healthcare professionals and their families in early 2020, as well as deliver a late-night meal to the entire PICU at Children’s Hospital during the height of hospitalizations.

Collaborating with our favorite local businesses:

As a small business, one of our biggest priorities in the last year was throwing our support to other local businesses whenever we could. With the cooperation of a few of our favorites, we were able to give away some really awesome meals and gift baskets for Thanksgiving, Hanukkah, and a few other “just because” occasions! A big thanks to Remnant Brewery, Artifact Cider, Maine Homestead Jams, Boards by Mo, Mamaleh’s Delicatessen, and also Laura’s Bare Fitness (we love a collaborative, healthy lifestyle!) for making this possible. Of course, we only collaborate with local brands we really adore and believe in, so continue to support them - they all come TSC-recommended!

Further - although she probably doesn’t want me sharing this (shhh), our Owner Janice has made a generous effort to buy dinner for the TSC team several times this year at our favorite local restaurants (Sarma, Sofra, Amuleto) to show love to her crew and through some support the way of other small businesses. Pretty cool, if you ask us.  

Meal donation with the Greater Boston Foodbank:

During the holidays, we once again asked you all to vote for your favorite meal-providing charity in the Boston area, and once again, you came through and helped us make an impact on the community. In lieu of our regular client Holiday gifts, we received so much support from you all in our decision to make a donation to a food-focused organization - and for that we’re really grateful. Even moreso, when you voted for the Greater Boston Foodbank as the recipient, we were thrilled to be able to donate an amazing 9,000 meals back to the Boston community. In a year like 2020, that felt hugely meaningful.

So, as we move into a new phase of healing - both physically and emotionally - we want to thank you for the generosity, creativity, and love for the community that you, our Tiny Spoon family, demonstrated in the last year. In a brief moment of reflection, we hope you also take comfort and hope in the many lives you touched through the year. You’re our silver lining, friends.