HOUSTON (ABP) — No matter who competes in the next Super Bowl, youth from across the country are drawing up a game plan to make sure hungry people win on Super Bowl Sunday.
They're preparing to participate in the Souper Bowl of Caring. On Super Bowl Sunday, Feb. 1, they'll stand outside their sanctuaries collecting money in soup pots. The donations will support food pantries, soup kitchens and other charities in the communities where they live.
The Souper Bowl of Caring started in 1990 as a “grassroots faith-based crusade against hunger,” explained Brad Smith, the organization's founder and executive director.
“The Souper Bowl is the fruit of a single line of a prayer, 'Lord, even as we enjoy the Super Bowl football game, help us be mindful of those who are without a bowl of soup to eat,'” Smith recalled.
The prayer resonated with senior high students at Spring Valley Presbyterian Church in Columbia, S.C., where Smith was youth minister. They decided to collect money for a local hunger-relief ministry. Later they recruited other youth groups to join them.
Since the Souper Bowl began, youth have raised more than $20 million. Last season, when the Tampa Bay Buccaneers defeated the Oakland Raiders, more than 12,000 youth groups — from churches, schools and other organizations — in all 50 states and some other countries raised $3.5 million.
This season, Souper Bowl organizers hope to involve more than 15,000 youth groups.
Participating youth groups ask members of their churches to contribute one dollar to the Souper Bowl as they leave church on Super Sunday, Smith explained.
The young people hold soup pots at church exits and receive donations from worshipers. Then they send all the money directly to a local soup kitchen, food pantry or other charity they choose.
Souper Bowl leaders tabulate national totals as all the groups report their receipts by calling (800) 358-7687 or via www.souperbowl.org on Super Bowl Sunday.
In addition to the collections, many youth groups participate in a “service blitz” by working directly in a local charity on the Saturday before the big game, Smith added. Last season, 10,000 young people from 650 groups participated in the service project.
The Souper Bowl of Caring kicked off this season's campaign prior to a Houston Texans home game at Reliant Stadium, site of Super Bowl XXXVIII.
Bob and Janice McNair, owners of the Texans and honorary chairs for the 2004 Souper Bowl, dropped the first dollars into a soup pot to encourage youth throughout the country to join the effort.
Former President George Bush and his wife, Barbara, joined the McNairs on the field for the official kickoff.
Outside the stadium, young people from Southeast Texas collected almost $1,200 for the Houston Food Bank.
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