2019 SOUPer Bowl

Each SOUPer Bowl guests select a pottery bowl handcrafted by students in St. Johns County schools.

January 31, 2019 will mark the return of the SOUPer Bowl at Nease High School for the fourth consecutive year. The event, which runs from 6-8 p.m., will be graced by some of the finest chefs on the First Coast, who will join forces to offer their signature creations in an evening guaranteed to delight the taste buds.

Primarily a soup tasting event, the SOUPer Bowl is planned, organized, and hosted by the Nease students with two goals — to raise funds needed to run the Blessings in a Backpack program in St. Johns County schools, and to create more widespread awareness about student hunger in our community.

Blessings in a Backpack is a program for students on free and reduced-price lunches in school who are dependent on school meals for nutrition during the week. Many of these children do not have guaranteed meals waiting for them at home over the weekend. First Coast Blessings steps in to fill that gap by sending food home with these students who are at risk for hunger. Of- ten, this is the only nourishment available to them during the 65 hours between lunch at school on Friday and the start of school on Monday.

The consequences of hunger in schools range from the inability to concentrate to poor academic performance. Extensive studies have shown that grades are better and morale is higher, when students do not have to worry about an empty belly. “Hunger should not be a worry or challenge for today’s youth,” says Kimberly Ward, Executive Director, First Coast Blessings in a Backpack. “It is important that, as a community, we do everything we can to feed them. I have seen the direct and powerful impact that this program has on the students, as well as the families and school as a whole.”

The hope that no child in St. Johns County should go hungry has been the driving force behind the SOUPer Bowl event. Nease students have been packing food for school children at Webster Elementary for over eight years in the only student-led and organized program in the area. However, four and a half years ago, it was discovered that available funding would be in- sufficient to feed the rising numbers of students in need at Webster Elementary, which included over 200 children on a waiting list.

Returning to the this year will be Sawgrass Country Club — the People’s Choice Award winner at the 2018 SOUPer Bowl — as well as steadfast supporters like The Restaurant Medure, The Ice Plant, Trasca & Co., Palm Valley Fish Camp, Fifth Element, and Sysco & Publix Cooking Schools. Also participating in the event for the first time will be South Kitchen & Spirits, MAA Kitchen, Treylor Park & Hitch and Fionn MacCools, to name a few. Over the past three years, this undertaking has raised over $90,000 for First Coast Blessings in a Backpack with the help of these generous restaurants.

Date: January 31, 2019 6:00 PM-8:00 PM

Location: Allen D. Nease High School | 10550 Ray Rd, Ponte Vedra Beach, FL 32081

Admission:

$25 per person

Event website: StudentsTackleHunger.org