Participant Stories

David W. Bishop :: First Presbyterian Church :: 2008

This was our first year to inform the congregation of Souper donations. Unfortunately, we had a very big snow storm in our Rocky Mountain area during the night and on Sunday. The congregation attendance was very low as a result of the storm so the pastor altered the order of services quite a bit.

S Strausser, Education Liason :: Salem Lutheran Church :: 2008

(According to CBS News:) Did you know? Super Bowl Sunday is the second largest food consumption day -- following Thanksgiving! Our group plans to do our annual soup pot collection, at the door and by the Fellowship Hall, but in addition we will be passing soup pots from the kitchen during the service. Next year I hope to have all the kids in Souper Bowl T-shirts!

Wanda Holcomb, Youth Director :: Lindsey Memorial Baptist Youth :: 2008

This is our first year participating in the Souper Bowl of Caring. Our pastor received the information packet, handed it off to me, and I immediately knew it was something our youth would have fun doing. We're a small church, 30 attending on a good day, with less than 10 youth at any given service. But we make up for it in enthusiasm! While shopping, I came across some football-shaped, plastic bowls, and bought several. I sent one bowl home per family, took one for myself(which I took to my office), and printed out your DIY flyers with our dollar and cans goal printed on them. I'm having all the youth that participated bring their bowl to the morning service on February 3rd; we'll take up a special offering in the large 'soup pot' sitting in the sanctuary, then count our final totals. After the count, the entire congregation will join in our special "Tailgate Party", where we'll have 'Nanny-burgers'(my mom, who's 82, makes these fresh and hot! Excellent!), hot dogs, Rice Krispie Treats in the shape of footballs, and we'll be playing 'Hockey Stick, Blindfold Football' right in the fellowship hall!! We're looking for a good time and a warm feeling, celebrating the fact that we're very fortunate to be where we are, and have what we do, and we're able to help those who are less fortunate, and maybe provide them a meal or two! We've all been spreading the Souper Bowl of Caring story and we look forward to participating again next year!! God bless the founders and everyone involved!

Julie Pressnell :: zion lutheran luther league :: 2008

Our congregation took the Souper Bowl challenge last year for the first time. The High School Youth challenged the younger youth to a food war. Beginning tin January, the students brought canned food and paper products to Sunday School that would later be distributed to a local food shelter. The Adults were asked to donate soup or monetary donations. On Superbowl Monday we delivered over 970 lbs of food and paper products plus close to $600.00 thanks to the matching funds of Thrivent Financial . The County agency was overjoyed because their cupboards were almost bare. This years competition has begun and our tables should be overflowing on February 3rd.

Adriana Garcia :: J.R. Harris CIS Wachovia Leaders Group :: 2008

Our students were so excited bringing their donations that teachers had their own classroom competition, a student from each class will recieve a small prize for bringing the more cans.

Chris Lyons :: Manor School :: 2008

I received an e-mail about Souper Bowl for Caring and thought it sounded like a good idea for a class project. It was only a couple of weeks before the Super Bowl so it didn't seem like enough time to get the school on board, but I mentioned it to a group of other teachers who are in the same Multi-Age Program (about one third of our school) and they all decided they could make it happen. So it went from one class to six, and we easily enlisted the help of several parents. One of the parents in my class has been involved with a soup kitchen in San Francisco so she came to talk to my class and brought along a formerly homeless woman who now runs the soup kitchen. The kids were very interested in hearing about her experience. They also visited another class next door. The day we collected all the food, we turned it into a math lesson, by counting all the food items in each bag, then counting up the totals. The kids got really into it. We also had each student bring in a vegetable and we made a big pot of soup for ourselves. Next year I'd like to offer the whole school the opportunity to participate. It was a good experience.

Marie Santiago, PTA President at Reed Ac :: Reed Academy :: 2008

Reed started the big push to help the Souper Bowl of Caring on January 22, 2008. We ran announcement for the students to collect as many cans as possible during the student's homeroom time. Students were reluctant at first, but after they saw the video from the Souper Bowl of Caring, they began to really take part in the campuswide efforts to help feed the hungry. The Reed Academy PTA gave incentive by offer the homeroom that collected the most perishable food items a free pizza Party. On February 1, 2008 The final count was in--Ms. Candice Bob's homeroom 635 had collected 179 can goods. And coming in second place was Ms. Marie Santiago's homeroom 607 with 48 cans collected. One of the teachers, Ann Caesar and her Student Counsel members gladly packed up all the can goods to be delivered to the community HEB.

K. Estep :: Bruceville-Eddy HS Beta Club :: 2008

Our high school Beta Club officers collected food during the Souper of Caring on our four school campuses for the first time this year. It was a time to interact with the younger students and take care of a need in their own community. They are delivering to the pantries today, and will share the need for volunteers in each of the four local pantries/kitchens at our next Beta Club meeting this Tuesday. They are making a commitment to serve these charities throughout the year. Bruceville-Eddy Beta Club, Eddy, Texas.

Kim Morgan-Houston Chronicle :: Missy-C :: 2008

Jan. 31, 2008, 11:54AM Middle school takes part in Souper Bowl Lake Olympia collecting food to feed hungry Super Bowl Sunday is probably known for the food people enjoy while watching the game just as much as for the actual competition itself. But residents of Fort Bend County are being challenged to think about those who don't have enough to eat at any given time of year, and to help by participating in the Souper Bowl of Caring, a youth-led, nationwide food drive that wraps up on Super Bowl Sunday. Fort Bend Independent School District is participating for the second year, by issuing a districtwide challenge to get involved. "We have at least 13 different school organizations that have already signed on to do the food drive," said Melvinla Morgan, the district's Community Partnerships coordinator. "And we're still getting inquiries from other schools. We would love to see participation from at least one group on every Fort Bend ISD campus, district offices, even the bus barn." Morgan said the administration office at 16431 Lexington Blvd. and the Administration Annex at 3119 Sweetwater Blvd., both in Sugar Land, are accepting nonperishable food donations from the community. Lake Olympia Middle School, 3100 Lake Olympia Parkway in Missouri City, is collecting food thanks to the hard work of some seventh- and eighth-graders. More than 75 girls, members of Miss-C, an after-school preparatory program, are rallying pupils and faculty to donate. "People all over Houston are hungry," said Imani Seay, 12, lead planner on the girls' Souper Bowl of Caring Event Planning Committee. "So, we want to help however we can. If you have the means to give someone something, then you should be willing to do that." Seay said their goal is to gather at least 5,000 cans of food. "That means we have to have at least 500 students give 10 cans each," Seay said. Chassidy Alva, assistant lead planner on the committee, said she thinks they'll be able to pull it off. "I'm kind of nervous, but I do think we'll do well," said Alva, a 13-year-old eighth-grader. "My main motto is, 'You should always give back. Always give, never receive.' " Members of Miss-C have gone to great lengths to ensure they meet their goal by forming a partnership that couldn't possibly be a better fit. They are working with Katy resident Tyrone Smith, a former pro-football player and a 1991 graduate of Willowridge High School in the Fort Bend district. Smith, 35, is president and co-founder of First and Goal, a nonprofit organization focused on empowering youth with life skills to "follow their dreams." "I am so impressed by these girls' goals and their passion," said Smith, who played for the San Francisco 49'ers from 1996-98, and then the Washington Redskins. "I have to commend them for being so driven to make a difference in their community." Smith is helping the girls round up signed memorabilia from a variety of professional athletes. In exchange for a food donation, students and staff at Lake Olympia Middle School will receive a raffle ticket for the items. Smith will pull winning raffle tickets at a school Super Bowl party slated for Friday, when he will also give a motivational speech. "I want this to be the start of something special in the kids' lives," Smith said. "When they're my age, I want them to come back to the Fort Bend community and be involved. Make a difference. Know they are capable of doing amazing things." neighborhoods@chron.com

Chris Buehnerkemper :: Lakeport Unified School District :: 2008

Our school program chose not to raise any money, there is a district policy about collecting money and we didn't want to chance loosing anything. So my co-leader and I went around to all the school's assemblies and showed either the official video or a skit. The Elementary School was so cute. They got so excited when we told them it was a competition against the High School and that they would get the Souper Bowl Trophy if they won. At the Middle School's assembly, we showed the video and they were silent all during it. They were kind of in shock afterwards and it was amazing to see the looks of disbelief on their faces. Of course many of the kids are actually the ones we would be helping so they weren't so shocked. They were more in awe that so many people are in the same boat as them. We just collected the cans yesterday and some of the teachers commented on their student's activity. One teacher noted that she was surprised at the response we got. Most of the kids who donated cans, were kids who would get the food later. They were so gung-ho about it. I'm glad we did it district wide this year and we are hoping to expand to the whole county next year! Thanks Souper Bowl of Caring!