By Rev. Dr. Amanda Riley
I remember first learning about the Soup-er Bowl of Caring when my youth group ran a canned food drive at our church every February on Super Bowl Sunday. The idea was simple: we were going to have a Super Bowl party featuring not just the big game, but a table overflowing with food. We did this knowing there are many in our community who were hungry. When we shopped for the big game, could we also buy a can of soup or two to share with our local food pantry? The answer was “yes.” Thanks to our generous congregation, each year we collected boxes and boxes of food.
This was a tradition I continued when I served youth groups in Michigan. Each year, we were excited to not just think about our game-day snacks but also how we could provide food for our greater community with less access to food. Then, about three years ago, a colleague of mine who had moved to San Pedro from Iowa told me about her experience of the Soup-er Bowl of Caring. Instead of a canned food drive, it was a community event that pairs ceramicists with soup-makers, and for a ticket price, you get a tasty bowl of soup in a handmade bowl of your choice, to support a local organization that provides food.
In 2024, the Soup-er Bowl of Caring began in San Pedro, California. Our first year, we sold more than 100 tickets and raised $1,500 for our local Meals on Wheels here in San Pedro (www.sanpedromealsonwheels.org/). Last year, we sold more tickets and raised just shy of $2,000. Each year, a generous collection of handmade bowls has been provided by Blue Water Clay (www.bluewaterclay.com/), a local ceramics studio just a few blocks from the garden. This year, we are adding additional tickets, and the ceramics artists are making more bowls to meet the growing popularity of the event. We are looking forward to raising even more funds for Meals on Wheels, which has been feeding those in need in San Pedro for more than five decades.
We hope you can join us on Saturday, February 7 from 11AM–2PM PT! Contact gardenchurchsp@gmail.com for information.
Read the full issue of the January/February Messenger.
Meet Amanda Riley
Rev. Dr. Amanda Riley has served numerous Presbyterian churches, and is pastor at The Garden Church. She fell in love with the vision, work, and mission of the church, and became involved in 2016.
