raises $537 to combat poverty

Peace, love and soups were on Tuesday’s lunch menu, served by Hunger Clean-Up in its annual Sample the Soups fundraising event.

The event consisted of an all-you-can-eat soup menu, live music, and the opportunity to take home a handmade soup bowl. Attendants were asked for a suggested donation of $5.

Emily Lundquist, a senior in the College of Communication and Hunger Clean-Up co-coordinator, said the purpose of Sample the Soups is two-fold, with emphasis on both community awareness and fundraising.  As part of raising awareness, posters of Milwaukee poverty statistics were hung around the room.

About 130 students and faculty members attended the event, bringing in a $537 profit from donations, according to Heather Jeffery, a junior in the College of Business Administration and Hunger Clean-Up fundraising co-chair.

Chicken tortilla, cream of potato with chive, tomato bisque, and vegetable minestrone soups were served during the event, complemented with bread and butter rolls. Sodexo provided all food, and donated enough soup to feed 250 people, said Elizabeth Treutler, a senior in the College of Arts & Sciences and Hunger Clean-Up fundraising co-chair.

The bowls were given away as part of Milwaukee Empty Bowls, a nonprofit organization that sponsors after school programs for children to make these bowls, Treutler said. According to its website, MEB emphasizes taking bowls home “as a reminder that someone’s bowl is always empty.”

Although they usually charge $10 for each bowl, MEB donates 190 bowls to Hunger Clean-Up annually for this event, Treutler said.

“(Sample the Soups) is aimed as a community awareness event, that’s why the donation is only suggested,” Treutler said. “But I’ve seen students who try to come in for free recognize the work we put into it and pay on the way out.”

Hunger Clean-Up fundraising is also being done through the Bradley Center, Stone Creek Coffee and online donations, Lundquist said.

“We’re not going to completely eradicate hunger and poverty in one day, but every little bit helps,” Lundquist said.

Lundquist said a major portion of profits goes toward three $3,000 grants to be presented to three service organizations on the day of Hunger Clean-Up, April 16.

“Within the Milwaukee community, it’s really important to focus in on the hunger and poverty,” said Anna Feeley, a sophomore in the College of Arts & Sciences and Hunger Clean-Up co-coordinator. “The stuff you see everyday just walking to class, you can’t miss it. To get so many students for one cause can be a powerful thing.”

Live musicians playing included Matt Hetrick, Andrew Pauly, Chris Morales and Dan Bergen.

Sara Gresser, sophomore in the College of Arts & Sciences, went to Sample the Soups last year as well as this year.

“Of all things you can spend five dollars on, (Sample the Soups) is a great one,” she said.