I recently was asked to serve on the committee responsible for the “Souper Bowl of Caring,” a national initiative to feed the hungry, organized around Super Bowl Sunday, this year on Feb. 8, 2008.
The program began in 1990 at Spring Valley Presbyterian Church in Columbia, S.C. The youth group there, under the leadership of then seminary intern Brad Smith, had the idea that as millions of people are watching the Super Bowl, they should breathe a prayer for those less fortunate. Their prayer was “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.” That year, 22 churches in Columbia joined with those youth in collecting food and cash donations totaling $5,600 to send to nonprofits to feed hungry people.
Since then, the Souper Bowl of Caring has grown into a national movement involving hundreds of thousands of young people, resulting in millions of pounds of food given to organizations to alleviate hunger. The mustard seed of a good idea flourished in a way that was a modern miracle of compassion.
At our own local meeting, it was an inspiration to see representatives of competing grocery chains sitting down together to discuss how best to move the people of Dallas/Fort Worth into a mighty army of compassion. During the Super Bowl season, your local grocery store will have bags of non-perishable food items already bagged, and you can purchase the bags and place them in a large bin, from which they will be distributed to hungry people through the North Texas and Tarrant County Food Banks; or you can give a cash donation.
Churches of many denominations will collect food and financial gifts at their doors. The goal of the Dallas/Fort Worth Souper Bowl of Caring is to collect 2 million pounds of food, which represents about $10 million worth of nutrition for those who so badly need it.
In the process of learning more about this worthwhile project, I learned something that has stayed with me, haunted me, and prodded my conscience. The state of Texas leads the nation in the proportion of children who are in need of food assistance – a dubious distinction. A full 24 percent of Texas children fall into that needy category. One out of every four of our innocents does not receive a balanced, nutritious meal each day. I began thinking of the spirit of Texas, and of the many wonderful, generous people who make up our great state. Surely we can change that terrible statistic. Absolutely, we can work together to be the No. 1 most compassionate state in America.
Some things in life are so simple, really. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to feed a hungry child – it only takes people of compassion and vision who, one by one, work a miracle of love. I hope you’ll join with me in helping us to far exceed our goal of two million pounds of good, nutritious food for the hungry. All it will take is a few extra minutes and a few extra dollars – a few mustard seeds that can grow into a mighty miracle.
