Get ready for a SOUPER time!
Imagine walking into a room and being surrounded by soup. Not just a little soup, but like, a lot of soup. Not only is the room filled with soup, but you’re given a spoon and told to eat as many different soups as you can before time runs out.
While some may consider this an odd dream, this is a dream come true for those who make their way to Evans Dining Hall for the Souper Bowl. The sixth annual Souper Bowl is coming up on Sunday, January 28, kicking off at 11 a.m. and running until 2 p.m.
The Souper Bowl is an annual fundraiser to benefit the Campus Kitchen Backpack Program. Restaurants, caterers and chefs from W&L, Lexington and the Rockbridge community will serve 1 oz. samplers of 24-25 different kinds of soup to those who attend.
For $10, students ($15 for adults) will be able to taste as many soups as they can handle. W&L’s three a cappella groups, Jubilee, General Admission and Southern Comfort, will also perform at the event. Tickets will be on sale (you can pay with your swipe) from 10 a.m.-3 p.m. in Elrod Commons on January 24-27.
The event benefits the Campus Kitchen Backpack Program, which prepares and delivers non-perishable meals to children in the Lexington and Rockbridge to take home during the weekend when they are not in school.
In 2017, the Souper Bowl raised $11,000 for the Backpack Program, which serves over 650-750 meals to children all over the Lexington and Rockbridge community.
Along with its significant impact to children in the area, Campus Kitchen Coordinator Jenny Davidson says that the event has become an important fixture in the community as a whole in the years since it first began.
"The sense of community people feel when they show up for the event is intoxicating in it of itself,” Davidson said. “People want to be there, so they’re upset when they miss it.”
Featuring a variety of soups from the likes of local favorites like Blue Sky, Napa Thai, TAPS, among others, Hannah Witherell, who is one of the coordinators of the Backpack Program appreciates the enthusiasm that local restaurants bring to the Souper Bowl.
"As soon as I walk into a restaurant and I say ‘I’m so-and-so, and I’m here from Campus Kitchen’, they’re like ‘oh, it’s Souper Bowl season!’,” she said. “It’s really cool that they look forward to it as much as we do, and that they’re happy to participate.”
The Backpack Program is one of many different elements of The Campus Kitchen Project at Washington and Lee (CKWL). Students and community members regularly volunteer with CKWL, with shifts ranging between food preparation, packaging and delivery, as well as assistance with the Backpack Program.
CKWL President Ryan Brink says that the Backpack Program and Campus Kitchen can provide W&L students with the opportunity to engage with their surrounding community.
"It’s just allowed me to get a better perspective of the community we live in by having all these different partner organizations that I’m going out and visiting with,” he said.
Aside from the attending the Souper Bowl, those who are interested in volunteering with Campus Kitchen can sign up for shifts here.
While it may not feature the New England Patriots or Philadelphia Eagles, the Souper Bowl is bound to be an can’t-miss event to benefit a worthwhile cause.
