Lutherans Team up for "Souper Bowl of Caring"

CHICAGO (ELCA) -- As two teams compete to become champion of the National Football League on "Super Bowl Sunday," Jan. 28, thousands of Lutherans will engage in a challenge of a different kind. Members of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) will participate in "Souper Bowl of Caring," a national effort to fight hunger.
On the day of the Super Bowl, congregations of the ELCA and other faith groups will aim to raise $4 million for soup kitchens, food banks and other charities across the country.
"There's no better day than Super Bowl Sunday, in which we enjoy food and drink, to spread the message in our churches that God calls all of us to share our abundance with people in great need," said Stephen Padre, associate director for hunger and disaster appeal communication, ELCA Department for Communication.
"One child in five in the United States lives in poverty, and about a billion people in the world are forced to live on just a dollar a day," Padre said.
Young members of the ELCA will take the lead in collecting dollars in large soup pots as parishioners leave worship the morning of the championship football game, said Padre. Each congregation will select and send contributions directly to a charity of their choice.
Organizers will report their results on game day by visiting www.souperbowl.org -- the Souper Bowl of Caring's Web site, or call 1-800-358-SOUP. The national totals will be posted on the Web site.
"The Souper Bowl is a great way for young people to show that when we work together we can make big strides in ending hunger," Padre said.
To prepare for the Souper Bowl, the 11,000 congregations of the ELCA received a packet containing resources and ideas for youth groups and others to plan for the event. The packet was produced by the ELCA World Hunger Appeal and the Lutheran Youth Organization (LYO), Padre said. Housed in the ELCA's Division for Congregational Ministries, LYO represents more than 500,000 high-school age people in the 11,000 congregations of the ELCA in the United States and Caribbean.
The packet includes a poster that can be hung in a church's narthex or other high-traffic areas, Padre said. Attached to the poster are bulletin inserts which invite members of the church to give one dollar or more.
With one dollar, the ELCA World Hunger Appeal can support feeding for four people in Bangladesh or ship a sewing kit to a refugee camp, Padre said. In the United States, a dollar can leverage $15 worth of surplus food for local food banks, he said.
Youth can decide where the offerings they collect will go. It is suggested that they split their collection between a hunger/poverty ministry like a food pantry in their area and the ELCA World Hunger Appeal, which will use the funds nationally and internationally, Padre said.
To help kick off the 2001 Souper Bowl of Caring, some congregations will organize a "service blitz" before Super Bowl Sunday. The service blitz is designed to encourage youth groups to work at a charity in their area, both to benefit the charity and increase awareness of the Souper Bowl.
Souper Bowl of Caring began when the Rev. Brad Smith, Spring Valley Presbyterian Church, Columbia, S.C., made reference to the National Football League's "Super Bowl" Sunday as "Souper Bowl" Sunday in a prayer. The senior youth fellowship of the congregation took the pun in earnest and a national effort to fight hunger was born.
The partnership has grown from 22 churches in 1990 to more than 11,000 congregations in Canada and in every state. The effort generated more than $3 million in 2000. Lutheran congregations raised $493,000 for local and national hunger organizations and the ELCA World Hunger Appeal.

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EDITORS:
Contributions to the ELCA World Hunger Appeal can be sent to:

ELCA WHA
PO Box 71764
Chicago, IL 60694-1764
1-800-638-3522
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For information contact:
John Brooks, Director (773) 380-2958 or NEWS@ELCA.ORG
http://listserv.elca.org/archives/elcanews.html