 | Participant Stories
Val Saxon :: Midville United Methodist Church Midville, GA :: 2009
Our small church and smaller youth group held our first Souper Bowl of Caring Event and raised $206! We used the skits from the websites in the Sundays preceding the event and also the pastor used some of the handouts. In addition, due to an anonymous gift, we were able to give all those who donated over $5 a sign for their yard which read, "Catch the Spirit - Midville United Methodist Church." We are having a celebration party at our next Super Second Saturday by watching a football movie (Facing the Giants), eating popcorn and pizza, and planning how we will make the presentation of our money to the church! Thanks for your support!
Judy Kahle :: Holy Cross Lutheran Church Kearney, NE :: 2009
The LWML (Lutheran Womens Missionary League) ladies of our church have organized the 2008 and 2009 collections. 2008 we did it on Super Bowl Sunday only. In 2009 we collected food Feb 1 and 8th. The results were good. I've spoken with our Director of Christian Education (DCE) and have asked him if the youth might be interested in participating next year. My goal is to designate an entire month for collection of food items. I think the youth would add a lot of "pizazz" to the drive. Hopefully we can do it together next year. Thanks.
Randi Ciszewski :: St. Anthony of Padua Church Port Reading, NJ :: 2009
For our Service Blitz the children got a tour of our local food pantry which we donate food on a monthly basis since we do not have our own. The children brought can goods and were able to stock the shelves and 2 families came in that evening to inquire about food. The children could not believe that the pantry had bread, peanut butter but no jelly. They were so happy that they would be collecting money to help all those who do not have enough to eat. It was truly a hands on experience for them.
Melanie Dages :: Servants of Christ Lutheran Church Youth Group Indianapolis, IN :: 2009
The Sunday before the Souper Bowl of Caring event at Servants of Christ Lutheran Church, the Youth Group had a ‘kick-off’ activity. Below is our newsletter article re-cap:
Youth Group “Mystery Trip”
On January 25, 11 of our Youth took a “Mystery Trip” to Wal-Mart! Two teams were formed (the Cardinals and the Steelers, of course). Each team was given a $100 dollar bill and the challenge to fill their shopping cart with at least three different priced items. They only had 15 minutes to get as many canned goods as possible without going over the $100 and they were not allowed to use a calculator or cell phone, etc. When the two teams checked out, both teams were just under $100 and they had 292 items for our Souper Bowl Sunday event!
The experience was a great "Pay It Forward" activity! A special "KUDOS" goes to Mrs. Rhodes, Mrs. Krol, and Mr. Krol for driving our two awesome teams to their "playing field” and to our Wal-Mart cashier, Tanya! Of course, the real winners are our neighbors in the community who will benefit from all the donations to the CAFÉ Food Pantry after Souper Bowl Sunday.
The Servants of Christ Lutheran Youth Group held their 4th annual Souper Bowl Sunday Event on February 1, 2009. A grand total of 1,754 canned goods and non-perishable items were collected PLUS $654 was raised. All donations will go directly to CAFÉ (Community Alliance of the Far Eastside) Food Pantry. Way to go, SOC Youth Group!
(Three pictures sent.)
Amanda McClellan :: MGBC Youth Perks , IL :: 2009
We were so excited to be participating in such an awesome event this year! However, we were in a region that received heavy ice and snow, so we had to cancel our event. We didn't have church for 2 weeks because of power loss and ice. So hopefully next year, we'll be able to participate! We look forward to it!
Janine Mahoney, NHS Adviser :: Shelter Island School - NHS Shelter Island, NY :: 2009
We gathered our entire school (grades kindergarten to 12) for an assembly to explain the Souper Bowl. Students were divided as they entered, odd grades to the right, even grades to the left. Each side was given a team color and a bracelet to wear for the week to remind them to bring in food. The competition was to see who had the most compassion- the blue team, or the white team. Our National Honor Society members performed a skit, taken from the Souper Bowl website, which was quite funny, but sent an important message at the same time. We then showed a public service announcement called "Ketchup Soup". This was only 30 seconds long, but served as a very powerful visual. In it, a mom steals ketchup packets from various fast food restaurants. Once back in her apartment she squeezes them into a pot and stirs in water. She then heats and serves it to her children for dinner. Her little boy doesn't like it, but mom encourages him to eat it. Many students responded with feelings of sadness for this little boy, and his family. For the next two weeks students brought in food daily, which was tallied and reported. At the end, the White team "won" by over 100 item lead. The food was then delivered to the local food pantry. With the state of the economy and less donations coming in than usual, the food pantry was most grateful.
Val Jahnke :: Second Presbyterian Church Topeka, KS :: 2009
The youth leader of Second Presbyterian Church Topeka, KS works for Cargill, Inc. Cargill had just initiated a "Special Cargill Emergency Hunger Relief Challenge Grant" campaign. Because of this campaign Cargill Topeka donated $1,000 to Topeka North Outreach (a local food bank), and Cargill Corporate would match those dollars making a total contribution of $2,000. The youth created a Souper Bowl of Caring pot of money and Souper Bowl of Caring display board using canned goods to inspire a personal Cargill employee contribution. The Cargill Topeka employees donated $333 dollars and 723 pounds of food items. It really jazzed the youth that in combination with their Topeka Second Presbyterian Church’s generous donations of $150 from the “Souperbowl Sunday” chili dinner following Church, and tapping into the resources of a corporation together they DID MAKE A DIFFERENCE for their local community. The total donations were $2,483 and 723 pounds of food. WOW, it was an awesome experience to be a part of the overflow of donations and corporate contributions.
Sean Moats :: First Presbyterian Church Grand Junction, CO :: 2009
This year the staff at our church agreed to help us raise money for the Souper Bowl of Caring by participating in our first ever "Pucker up for the Alpaca". The staff person with the most money in their container had to kiss an alpaca before the big game. We raised over $2200 and had a lot of fun doing it! Our Pastor, Tom Hansen, was the winner! He might say Jana, the alpaca, was the winner but the real winners are those in our community who will receive help from the funds raised. The local news even came out to do a story on the Souper Bowl and they aired the big kiss for a couple of days.
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"Our youth were so inspired by this experience that they requested to volunteer at the soup kitchen on a monthly basis." (more) Melody Ott, St. Anastasia Youth in St. Augustine, FL
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