Passion for soup launches group that helps local shelter
Gail Greenberg has always been a soup enthusiast, but she didn’t expect her passion for soup to create a way she could support a women’s shelter.
When her daughter first left for university, Greenberg bought her a Soup Sisters and Broth Brothers cookbook to pass on her passion for soup. Then last year Greenberg’s daughter told her she had gone to a soup-making event put on by Soup Sisters and Broth Brothers, where participants paid for a fun evening of cooking in support of a local women’s shelter.
“I Googled it and I realized that this cookbook had sort of precipitated a whole lot of charitable activity across the country, and so I thought ... it made sense that Regina opened up a group,” said Greenberg.
After finding three other Regina team leaders in Donna Huntley, Katherine Cameron and Wanda Lyons, Greenberg went hunting for a culinary partner. Evraz Place was the perfect fit.
Starting with an inaugural event on Oct. 17, Soup Sisters and Broth Brothers Regina will hold a soup-making event in Mosaic Stadium’s kitchen once a month, with guidance provided by Evraz Place’s professional culinary staff. At each event, participants will make six different kinds of soup for a total of 60 litres, which will be donated to the Regina Transition House.
Regina Transition House is an emergency shelter for women and children that provides short term housing and services. Executive director Stephanie Taylor said such a large and consistent food donation will ease the pressure on the organization’s grocery budget.
“It could be fairly significant cost savings,” she said. “With this soup on hand, it’s an easy meal for women to warm up if we don’t have family support working that day, or family support could add it to meals and it just cuts down on what we need to go out and buy.”
The benefits of the soup donation will also extend to families who have left the shelter but are part of its Bridges of Hope outreach program, which helps those working toward independence in the community.
“Food security is often an issue for them when they live and are in the community on their own, so we’ll be giving out one litre soup batches to families when they come for our outreach groups on Thursdays,” said Taylor.
The cost of participating in the launch event on Oct. 17 is $95 per person. Included in the price is a supper of soup, salad, homemade bread, cheese and wine, a Soup Sisters and Broth Brothers cookbook, and an opportunity to make soup and socialize. For each monthly event following, the cost is $65 per person and does not include a cookbook. The money goes to cover the costs of the kitchen, food and packaging supplies.
To sign up for an event go to www.soupsisters.org/regina.php, or for group bookings email regina@soupsisters.org.
Soup Sisters and Broth Brothers is a non-profit organization with groups that gather in cities across North America to make soup for local women’s and children’s shelters.