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07030 January 12, 2007
'Souper Bowl' hopes to score $8 million
Game is kickoff for helping needy
by Evan Silverstein
LOUISVILLE - As National Football League playoff teams clash for the right to advance to the Super Bowl, participants in another big game will be teaming up next month to fight hunger and poverty.
But the players in this match-up, the annual Souper Bowl of Caring, won't need helmets.
On Super Bowl Sunday, Feb. 4, volunteers, mostly young people armed with soup pots, will be collecting canned goods and dollars at churches, businesses and Super Bowl parties for the annual Souper Bowl of Caring.
The Presbyterian-founded, youth-oriented anti-hunger campaign takes advantage of the NFL championship game to raise money for the poor and ill-nourished.
The program has raised $33 million for charities like food banks and soup kitchens since its inception in 1990. Organizers hope this year to get 17,000 congregations from a variety of faith groups involved and raise $8 million.
"This God-given idea that began with one church youth group is transforming Super Bowl Sunday into the largest youth-led day of giving and serving in our country," said the Rev. Brad Smith, a Presbyterian minister who founded the Souper Bowl of Caring and serves as its executive director.
The groups that participate are asked only to report their totals so that a national figure can be calculated. All the money raised is given to local charities by the groups who raise it.
Last year, 11,928 churches along with schools and other groups raised $5 million in all 50 states. That total was up from $4 million in 2005.
More than 2,400 Presbyterian churches took part in 2006, generating $932,831, up from $742,000 the previous year.
Souper Bowl officials said they hope Presbyterians will raise $1.4 million for the 2007 campaign. Already, 2,751 Presbyterian churches are registered to participate.
"Presbyterians have a rich history and strong tradition of bearing witness of the gospel to the world," Smith said. "The Souper Bowl of Caring is a contemporary example of that."
Smith started the Souper Bowl 16 years ago while serving as a seminary intern at Spring Valley Presbyterian Church in Columbia, SC.
He decided to ask parishioners to give $1 each for the needy as they left church on Super Bowl Sunday. His church's youth group liked the idea and invited other Columbia-area churches to join in. The first year 22 churches participated and collected $5,700 for ministries that help needy people.
The effort went statewide in 1991 and national in 1993.
In 1997, giving topped $1 million and an ecumenical board was formed to govern the event. In 2001, Smith was hired as full-time director.
Former President and Mrs. George H. W. Bush as well as former President and Mrs. Jimmy Carter are serving as national advocates of the Souper Bowl of Caring. Also serving as advocates are J. Wayne and Delores Weaver, owners of the NFL Jacksonville Jaguars; and Jim and Meg Irsay, owners of the NFL Indianapolis Colts.
Presbyterians Bob and Janice McNair, owners of the NFL Houston Texans, who worship at Memorial Drive Presbyterian Church in Houston, are also national advocates as are H. Wayne Huizenga and family, owners of the NFL Miami Dolphins, who worship at First Presbyterian Church in Fort Lauderdale.
The Presbyterian Hunger Program typically contributes money to the campaign to help meet administrative expenses and provides Souper Bowl resources to PC(USA) congregations.
Organizers hope to bring congregations to the kettles with a Souper Bowl Service Blitz on Saturday, Feb. 3, when church youth groups are encouraged to volunteer in local soup kitchens, food banks and related charities.
The idea is to promote the Souper Bowl while getting young people involved in the fight against hunger. Last year 17,164 young people participated in the Souper Bowl Service Blitz.
For more information about the Souper Bowl of Caring or to register a church or group, call (800) 358-SOUP (7687). The program's home page, offers resources including prayers and Bible studies.
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