Participant Stories

Julianne Ross :: Holy Family Youth Group :: 2009

We just put up our posters and are beginning to advertise in our bulletin to let everyone know about Souper Bowl! The Youth Group members are visiting our religious education classes to get our younger members involved! stay tuned for a great Souper Bowl!

Pauli Miano :: Our Lady of Fatima Church Youth :: 2009

Last year we started adding a new dimension to the giving. We held out 2 soup pots and labeled each with one of the teams that was playing in the Super Bowl that year. The donations increased by over $100.00, and the final totals indicated that most of our parishioners were rooting for the Giants. This year we did the same thing, and after our 4:00 mass the money was going nearly 2:1 toward the Steelers. But when our pastor announced the contest at our morning mass he said "You can put your money in the pot for the Cardinals, or you can put it in the one for the winners." This led some of the parishioners to root for the under dog. We had 20 dollar bills put into the Cardinals soup pot! And they pulled off a last minute victory over the Steelers. Too bad the actual Super Bowl didn't go that way...

Barbara Rockow :: All Saints Lutheran Church :: 2009

Thrivent for Lutherans is supposed to match half of our offering.

Megan Davidson :: Shrine Catholic High School :: 2009

The students of Shrine Catholic High School are committed to helping others in our community. As a part of Catholic Schools Week, we decided to help out the Judson Center by donating to their food pantry. The students were allowed to wear jeans to school (we are a Catholic school with a mandatory uniform!) if they brought in 3 food items. Our donation completely filled a Chevy Trailblazer!

Liz Liljestrom :: Monte Vista High School Friday Night Live Club and One.Org Club :: 2009

A couple of weeks prior to our Souper Bowl of Caring drive we advertise in the school bulletin, marquee and with a large banner in front of the school. We also pass out flyers to our parents letting them know about the drive. We print out the Souper Bowl of Caring logo and tape them on our pots. The week of our drive we stand at the exit of our school with signs and pots in hand and ask people to donate their spare change. This year one of our students who works as a sign twirler, twirled one of our signs and danced. When he was out there, we received many more donations AND smiles. In 4 days standing out at the exit of the school we collected 583.16 in spare change!!!

By Tracy Farnham | The News Herald (Morg :: First Presbyterian Church Youth :: 2009

MORGANTON - At various houses of worship this weekend the collection plate may look a little like a soup pot. Local youth groups are joining forces with the nation's largest youth-led weekend of giving and serving. Before Super Bowl XLIII festivities kick off, more than a quarter of a million teens are expected to participate in the 20th Souper Bowl of Caring. During this event, local youth organizers receive donations of food for Burke United Christian Ministries and collect funds in a large stock pot that will be donated to BUCM or other local charities. In 2008, 18 churches in the Morganton area participated collecting $16,800 for local charities. Currently 19 churches are registered for the 2009 giving campaign. "This event has been going on for several years and churches participate in a lot of different ways. Some churches do a collection and actually pass a pot," Suzy Fitzgerald director of mission opportunities with BUCM said. Some watch the game and have quart jars available to vote for or against teams, she added. According to the Rev. Adam Bowling, minister of student ministries at First Presbyterian Church, the youth began reminding folks last week of the annual event. First Presbyterian has participated for nearly 10 years and over the last three years has collected just over $3,000. "We are collecting non-perishable food and donations for Burke United Christian ministries," Bowling said. His youth will be stationed at the door following the morning service with a soup pot for donations. Then, the youth head out into the community. "This year we will go out into the neighborhood door-to-door and ask people if they have non-perishable food to donate to BUCM," Bowling said. Donations of food can be dropped off at 3:30 p.m. Sunday afternoon at the church, he added. Souper Bowl of Caring started with a prayer by a young minister in South Carolina who was concerned about those who were less fortunate and without even a bowl of soup. Since the event's inception in 1990, more than $50 million has been raised and last year more than $10 million was collected and given to help people in their time of need through local organizations. All of the money raised for Souper Bowl goes to our local community, Bowling said. "Burke United Christian Ministry does a great job of helping the hungry so we give 100 percent of the money raised to them," he said. Each participating group will choose a charity of its choice to receive the monies collected on Sunday during Souper Bowl of Caring. "All the money goes to help buy food for folks in need, and we usually get some of that money," Fitzgerald said. The funds can either be donated directly to Second Harvest, now known as Feeding America, used to purchase food for a church food distribution or given directly to BUCM. "We purchase food for our food pantry. Our largest need is having enough food for families to pick up," Fitzgerald said. "We take that money to the food bank where we can buy food for 16 cents a pound." For example, Fitzgerald said a 12-ounce can of vegetables weighs about a pound so in a grocery store it would cost $1.50, but that same item can be purchased for only 16 cents at the food bank. Due to the rarely availability of some items at the food bank it is still necessary to purchase some food at the grocery story, Fitzgerald added. Food Lion and Harris Teeter help provide food as well, she said. At First Presbyterian donations will be super sized thanks to a matching contribution by the Hunger Committee of the Presbytery of Western North Carolina giving to local charities for hunger issues. The contribution can vary according to available resources, Grace Boyer, associate Presbyter said. "Last year the Presbytery was able to super size the contribution of all 112 churches in the PWNC by almost 50 cents on the dollar." At First Baptist Church in Morganton the youth also will collect donations in large soup pots following the morning service on Sunday. "This year we are doing the offering as we have done many times in the past, and I think it is a great idea. It all goes to support BUCM," said Fred Schuszler, acting youth ministries coordinator. The stewardship team of the First Baptist Youth put the word out to the congregation about Sunday's collection, he added. Schuszler said their youth are having a Super Bowl party with a devotion, snack supper, a chocolate buffet and stations for video games. "We encourage this as a fellowship event, by bringing friends it is also an outreach. We will promote the offering again for anybody that missed the opportunity to give," he said. Churches can register online or find out more information at www.souperbowl.org

Corrie Holiday :: Palmetto JOOI Club of Clover :: 2009

This was our first year participating in the Souper Bowl. We decided to place letters on grocery bags explaining who we are and what the Souper Bowl of Caring was all about. We designated a day that we would be back in the neighborhood to pick up the bag of canned goods. The kids had a blast going to the different neighborhoods and collecting the bags. They were amazed at how much people would donate! One of our members actually said, "Who would have known I could have so much fun doing community service!" They had such a great time that they decided to extend their collection into two more neighborhoods that we will return to next week.

Corrie Holiday :: Independence Elementary :: 2009

This was our first year participating in the Souper Bowl. We decided to have a grade level competition. We used the online resources to send letters to our parents. Our drama club wrote and performed 3 skits that we played during our morning announcements to advertise the Souper Bowl. The teachers kept track of how many cans the children brought in. The boxes were collected and the cans were counted. We divided the cans between two organizations in our community. The winning classes will be receiving pizza parties.

Rev. Marnie Abraham Russell, Interim Pas :: Connellsville Presbyterian Church :: 2009

We are located about 50 miles southwest of Pittsburgh and proud members of the "Steeler Nation." The congregation was challenged to give the amount of their favorite Steeler player (i.e Polamalu - 43 = $43.00). In the past, we joined with other churches in this process. Today, our small congregation proudly donated over $308.00 and canned/boxed goods to fight hunger in our economically depressed community. Thanks be to God.

Tami Vaughn :: First Baptist Church :: 2009

The economy is really bad in our area right now, but I am thankful to report that this is the best collection that we have ever had for the Souper Bowl!