What's for Dinner? Improving Community with SOUP

Almost forgot to take the garden soup pic...

Tonight I experienced my first La Crosse Soup. It was as wonderful as friends had told me.  But little did I know how great the soup could be as well as the power of word of mouth.  Tonight's crowd was may be even triple the 2 previous months. Also different tonight were the folks who made the speeches as these were sponsors and organizers of the event for this project and for the crowd gathered behind the coffee house, the Root Note, to listen to four ideas to make La Crosse a better place to live.

Folks are asked to bring their own bowl (smart move: no dishwashing for the folks at the Root Note), make a donation of at least $5 for their bowl of soup, a piece of bread and a cookie and listen to four pitches of possible community projects. 

The rules are after each 4-minute pitch, 4 questions could be raised and answered and then everybody voted on their favorite project of the 4 ideas. The pitch with the highest number of votes wins the total cash collected from both the soup and beer sales and extra donations/ matching challenges. In fact, one of the sponsors asked how many had ridden their bikes to the event and for every cyclist, a dollar was donated. Very cool indeed, encouraging cycling to the downtown event. 42 folks had ridden their bikes this evening so an extra $42 was added to the kitty.

I'm still trying to figure out the significance of the number 4. Perhaps someone will give me some insight and I can enlighten all of us. But, ok 4 is the magic number and easy to remember.

The presenters stood on one of the building's fire escape platforms, microphone in hand to present their pitches.

Michelle

First up was Michelle representing the idea "Comfort for Coulee Kids" whose focus is on older kids, young pre teens/ teens who are overlooked during hospitalization. Soft toy animals aren't as appropriate for this population so start up money balls in wards of behavioral health with perhaps Nerf balls, I-pad stands, I-pads, I-tune cards, etc... You get the idea. A FaceBook page would be set up along with Children's Miracle Network to continue raising funds after the initial start up.  

Mario

 Second pitch (Mario) spoke about the usefulness of a stationary bike ( $3900 needed) for the Y and the Livestrong Foundation's program called Partners in Recovery, a physical and well being program . One upcoming fundraiser is a brat fry to help cover the costly bike.

Andre

Andre's Third pitch was for the "Reduction of Pet Adoption Fees" at the Humane Society to allow more pets to have homes outside the facility.  He spoke of his adopted pets and the exorbitant cost associated with pet adoption.

Corrie and Dane

And last but not least, Corrie and Dane, two owners of both the Root Note and The Mint proposed the expansion of the Root Note backwards to create an "outdoor space" with plans for Beer Garden to foster more community outside. First a fence would be needed.

And the winner of the $1600 plus dollars went to... Can you guess?
There are only four possibilities. 

For which one would you have voted? I'll add the answer after you have had a chance to vote.

I can't wait for August's proposals and to see which one takes home the starter money. What a terrific community project and gathering!

* The Root Note won the evening's votes to convert their alley space to a Beer garden. A nice thank you for small business owners who give so graciously to our community.