KELOWNA – What do you get if you add fresh local ingredients, a lot of chopping and about 20 community minded women?
The answer: Soup Sisters.
Once a month, for the past 2 years, 20 women and a handful of volunteers descend on a local restaurant in Kelowna to make soup for Kelowna’s Womens Shelter.
“We’ll make it here, cool it and portion it tonight. Tomorrow morning the volunteers will pick it up and take it out the women’s shelter and they’ll freeze it there.” says Chef Neil Schroeter who is the owner of Okanagan Street Food.
He donates the use of his kitchen each month so the organization has a place to make the upwards of 200 servings of soup.
Soup Sisters is a simple concept that was first conceived of in Calgary 3 years ago when the founder of the now non-profit organization, Sharon Hapton, got a bunch of women together on her birthday to make soup for the shelter.
“I realized I’ve been a soup maker all my life for family and friends in time of need and I thought to myself that his could be something we could be doing for women and children all over in times of crisis.”
Now Hapton’s concept has grown to 12 cities across Canada with people booking months in advance to take part in this hands-on way to help women and children who are fleeing violence and abuse in their homes.
Jennifer Schell is the Kelowna coordinator of the organization, “It’s such an amazing feeling cooking for these women and children who are alone at the women’s shelter and need someone to love and know that the community cares about them and were thinking about them. We want to cook for them and give their children healthy food.”
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Each person pays $50 to participate in the charitable soup making. The money covers the cost of running the event for the night and the ingredients for the soup.
In a year, the Kelowna Women’s Shelter can feed up to 400 women and children so the monthly soup donation goes a long way in helping with food costs.
Not to mention, says Hapton, a long way to helping out women and children when they often feel most alone.
“We’re there to come together and take a stand on family violence and to show these women that we care. WE call it a hug in a bowl.”
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