'Souper Bowl'
hopes to score $5 million
Traditional anti-hunger event adds
tsunami relief this year
by Evan Silverstein,
Presbyterian News
Service
LOUISVILLE --
January 20, 2005 -- 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.
On Super Bowl Sunday, Feb. 6,
young people from 15,000 congregations are expected to participate in the
Souper Bowl of Caring
by asking parishioners to drop money and canned goods in soup pots to help
hungry and hurting people in their communities.
This year many youth groups,
congregations and schools will also collect money to aid tsunami and
earthquake victims in southern Asia.
The Presbyterian-founded, anti-hunger
Souper Bowl campaign has raised $24 million for food banks, soup kitchens
and other charities since its inception in 1990.
"The devastation of hunger in this
country and the tsunami in Asia will go on long after Souper Bowl Sunday,"
said the Rev. Brad Smith, the Presbyterian minister who kicked off the
fund-raiser 15 years ago in Columbia, SC. "But imagine the positive impact
if half of the 130 million people who watch the big game gave one dollar
to help those in need."
Last year 12,750 congregations and
schools raised a record $4.25 million for soup kitchens, food banks and
other helping charities in all 50 states, Canada, the Netherlands,
Germany, Puerto Rico and the Marshall Islands. Organizers hope this year
to get 14,000 congregations and schools involved and raise $5 million.
About 2,280 Presbyterian churches in all
50 states took part in Souper Bowl 2004, generating a record $747,405, up
slightly from $703,767 the previous year.
The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)'s Hunger
Program contributed $9,000 to
help meet administrative expenses for the 2005 Souper Bowl.
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.
Participants will also choose the tsunami relief agencies to which they'd
like to contribute.
"The Souper Bowl of Caring provides a
message of hope during this time of uncertainty," Smith said. "This is
about giving to help our neighbors in need, and joining hands to put God's
love into action."
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 Wayne Huizenga and family, owners of the NFL Miami Dolphins, and J.
Wayne and Delores Weaver, owners of the NFL Jacksonville Jaguars.
Presbyterians Bob and Janice McNair,
owners of the NFL Houston Texans, who worship at Memorial Drive
Presbyterian Church in Houston, are also national advocates. The couple
served as honorary chairs of the 2004 Souper Bowl.
Organizers hope to literally take
congregations to the kettles with a Souper Bowl Service Blitz on Saturday,
Feb. 5, 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.
For more information, call (800)
358-SOUP (7687). The program's home page,
www.souperbowl.org,
offers resources including prayers
and Bible studies.
