The Women’s Guild of St. John’s United Church of Christ spearheaded the 10th Annual Souper Bowl of Caring and as a result of their efforts, members of the church raised $2,754 through a soup luncheon which included both a live and silent auction of various donated items. A check was presented by Guild Treasurer Alice Prosise to Diane Clark, Executive Director of Helping Hands during the Sunday morning worship service on March 8th. In addition to the monetary donation, members of St John’s collected 467 pounds of food during the month of February that was donated to stock the shelves at Helping Hands.
Souper Bowl of Caring at St. John’s UCC started from a very meager beginning in 2005, with very little planning, advertising or involvement, resulting in only $41.00 collected in a soup pot by a couple of youth group members. Following that first year, the youth group members took ownership of the souper project and set goals to not only raise more money but to involve the entire congregation. By 2008, their efforts not only increased the monetary donations, but also the involvement of the congregation in a soup lunch prepared and served by the youth along with an auction of special cakes. Every year since, the tradition of Souper Bowl of Caring on Super Bowl Sunday, continued with the Women’s Guild leadership since 2009.
Fast forward to 2015 and this special project has a total of $22,553.00 donated to Helping Hands Ministry over the past 10 years along with 1,052 pounds of food (the past 3 years) and 1,283 items of food (the prior 7 years).
During this year’s food drive, the young children of the congregation had an opportunity to be a part of the community outreach by bringing the bags of donated food up to the front during the church service’s Moment for the Young.