Soup-er Bowl helps hungry
Megan Strickland
Volunteers wheel a mountain of soup from the Ronan Seventh Day Adventist Church.
Megan Strickland
Megan Strickland
Megan Strickland
Megan Strickland
Megan Strickland
Megan Strickland
Megan Strickland
Megan Strickland
Megan Strickland
Megan Strickland
Megan Strickland
Megan Strickland
Megan Strickland
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RONAN — Super Bowl festivities are traditionally a time of feasting on a smorgasbord of good eats, but one local church spent the month of January focusing on ways to make sure those who go without food day to day will be provided for.
The Ronan Seventh Day Adventist Church’s sixth annual Soup-er Bowl Challenge smashed the parish’s previous record for total number of cans of soup collected for its January food drive. The church, which has between 80 and 100 members, split into two teams to raise enough money to buy 5,568 cans of soup that went to the Ronan Bread Basket and Polson Loaves and Fish food pantries.
The lively competition divided the church into two groups: the Jackson Jackals, led by Dale Jackson and Billee Collins, and the Adams Ant Eaters captained by Aric Cooksley.
The Jackson Jackals managed to squeak out enough dough to purchase 3,135 cans of Campbell’s Soup from Walmart Supercenter in Polson that provides the bounty at a deeply discounted rate. The Adams Ant Eaters only had 2,412 cans purchased at last count, but they emerged victorious after a last minute anonymous $600 donation. The cash and the cans were split evenly between the local food banks.
“We have a giving heart,” Community Outreach Coordinator Russ Jenkins said, “that is inspired by Matthew 25:40: ‘I assure you that what you are doing for the least of these my brothers and sisters, you are doing it for me.’ Over the past six years we have been blessed to share over 15,000 cans of love.”
The fundraiser has become a staple for the two local food banks that have seen their needs swell exponentially since the recession hit in 2008. Bryan River said the food bank never seems to have enough donations of soup.
“We have to buy it,” he said.
Not having to buy the soup helps get the pantries through winter, which is usually the toughest part of the year after holiday donations dry up.
“We really count on it,” Ronan Bread Basket Director Sherri McDonald said. “It lasts us until April, usually, but each year we have more people coming in, so it might not last as long. It is wonderful. Everyone can eat soup, even the kids.”
