Super SOUPERS: DOING GOOD

Remember how excited I was with my gorgeous soup bowl from the fundraising Soup Bowl night in Viroqua? 

the backpack strap knot that didn't hold

Well, that lovely bowl wasn't long for this world as this week it became a bunch of pottery shards as the small cloth backpack's strap I had slipped over my shoulder as I got out of the car gave and down fell the lime green back pack with the bowl onto the sidewalk. :( I do expect some empathy  (a couple AWS would be nice because I was headed to the August La Crosse Soup and now I didn't have a bowl.) I figured I could still make my $5 donation no matter what. 

Dianne 'does good.' 

When I arrived I found a spot for my blanket behind my knitting friend Dianne with whom I shared my soup bowl's demise. She offered me her bowl as she said it was a cream based soup night and she wouldn't need her bowl. Oh my, the soup gods were watching out/ La Crosse SOUP's motto of DO GOOD is already working its magic besides micro financing. Thanks Dianne. 
  

Update : Some 200 folks attended last month's soup soiree ($1600 collected) so an optimistic 300 tickets had been printed for August's La Crosse Soup and guess what?  300 wasn't enough. Actually, a very good problem to have with almost 60 more needed. If you multiply the $5 requested donation for a bowl of soup that's already at least $1800. 

The night's soup was a creamy 
potato leek soup donated by the The Mint, savory/sweet bread from Great Harvest Bread Co. , a pastry and from Lifelawn Gardens fresh radish sprouts  besides the proceeds from a keg of beer donated by local Pearl Street Brewery. 

After all the evening's proceeds were counted, a whopping $2280 would accompany the Giant Soup Spoon to the most popular pitch. 

As a refresher/in case you missed the July posting, four pitches are made to the gathered community and the attendees will make their entrance ticket/ballot of their choice for the micro financing. 

The night's four pitches included:

Y appeal

1. YMCA FOOD FOREST: An edible Forest : a year round garden planted street side starting this year in front of the YWCA. Monies would help with plantings and public workshops. Community passerbys could help themselves to the produce. The gals seated around me decided they liked would love to volunteer to help after seeing the organizer. He was very impassioned to educate the public re: growing their own food/ food for others  ... DOING GOOD.

Chris, one owner of the soap business

2. NOT YOUR MOTHER'S APRON SOAP: Two sisters who run a home grown soap business using less chemicals making their soaps to be more eco and hygienically friendly need some monies for an exhaust fan for their business. Their generosity included a small soap sample for the evening's attendees. We all were beneficiaries of this small business DOING GOOD.



3. URBAN AG GREENHOUSE: 

Casey donated radish sprouts for soup night too.

Local landscaper Casey of Lifelawn Gardens uses city residents' backyards gardens to grow produce. In exchange the homeowner receives a percentage of the produce, Casey then takes the remaining yield to area farmer markets, donating 10% of his earnings to community projects. He also vouched 10% of his remaining season's earnings to go to SOUP in addition to future transportation of his yield to be bicycle fueled to market. Monies needed for hoop greenhouses to start and keep plants in cooler weather. Win win business plan of :DOING GOOD.

Kate, UW-L prof volunteer at Franciscan Hospitality 

4. A SPECIAL WEDDING CEREMONY: Kate, a UW-L English  prof, volunteers at the city's new Franciscan Hospitality Center where homeless folks can get a how shower, wash clothes, have a place to take a nap, get a meal, etc... (BTW donated hygiene products always needed) One couple who live in tent city and have been plagued with health issues and financial complications are now getting married. Kate's appeal is for monies to throw them a wedding. The center will provide a wedding meal for community guests. Kate added extra monies would go back into La Crosse SOUP. During questioning time: someone asked if they needed someone to marry the couple. Well, no, there was no one yet to officiate but now there was as the asker volunteered. Then another questioner inquired if the couples had bikes. No, Kate didn't think so. Now they did as even a tandem bike was donated to the future couple. Community: DOING GOOD. OK, more wet eyes. 

Kate with last month's Root Note winners (L) and
Andrew Londre (far R) accepting SOUP spoon award

Sentimentality and the SPECIAL WEDDING CEREMONY won the evening's votes. 

'Do good' seems to be the perfect motto for La Crosse SOUP.

Even your city can 
'do good' with this community micro financing idea. 

* I almost forgot to thank the newest addition to last Wednesday night's gathering - MUSIC. A big shout out to the musicians who added to the festive atmosphere. 

Below is the link for July's La Crosse SOUP in case you missed it:
JULY LA X SOUP