Not quite “super” in name, but certainly extraordinary in spirit, a newly expanded weekly meal dubbed “Soup Bowl Sunday” is helping give more people in Regina a chance to end their week with a Sunday afternoon feast.
Every week, volunteers from The Comeback Society team up to cook and deliver hundreds of free meals to be served at two Regina locations.
Organizers say more than 100 people are served in an average week at both Regina’s Victoria Park and, for the first time this year, Core Community Park on 11th Ave.
The meals are cooked at the Regina Food Bank and vary by season, but always include soup and bannock, as well as sandwiches, pasta salads and vegetables.
Uneaten meals are used to stock Regina’s community fridges.
Organizers say the project began in 2021 as a response to the hunger seen at Camp Hope.
It was expanded to the second location this year with the help of Regina Community Fridge and Warriors of Hope Community Support Inc.
“My sister and I, one of our favourite memories from when we were kids was having soup and bannock with our families. We grew up in poverty so we would utilize soup and bannock as a way to feed us,” said Comeback Society Founder and CEO Alicia Morrow.
“It’s more than food. It feeds the soul and it feeds you.”
The Comeback Society’s other programs include workshops at the Mackenzie Art Gallery and virtual beading workshops.
“I’ve been living in Regina my whole life but I guess I’ve kind of been separated,” said volunteer Jesse Aaron Triffo, who began helping out about a month ago.
“It’s fulfilling already. When you’re handing out the food, it’s fulfilling but also depressing because you get a sense of the urgency and the need.”