Soup sampling raises money for Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families
by February 20, 2017 5:05 pm 561 views
Art students at Studio Leilani contributed hand-painted muffin tins for purchase at Soup Sunday. Guests then used the tins to carry cups of soup during the event.
Guests sampled soup on Sunday (Feb. 19) to raise money for Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families (AACF) at the 16th annual Soup Sunday held at the John Q. Hammons Convention Center in Rogers.
A family-friendly crowd of approximately 1,000 people, made up of adults and children, mingled around tables ringing the convention center’s ballroom, where 30 different restaurants offered soups ranging from garden vegetable to lobster crab bisque to lemon chicken. Guests, who paid $25 in advance or $30 at the door for adults and $10 for children, could try as many of the concoctions as they liked.
Each restaurant donated the cost of their soup to the event. Alan Dierks, executive chef for 1925 Vetro, said, “(The donation) is not much considering all AACF does. It’s kind of an honor to be able to do it.”
His restaurant has participated in the event since 2001 and his Crawfish Bisque was voted best soup last year by attendees. Early Bird Catering won the award this year for their Southwestern Corn Chowder.
Other restaurants participating included Spring Street Grill, Flying Fish, Tazikis, Crabby’s Seafood Bar and Grill, The Green Goat, Embassy Suites, Big Sexy Food, Arsaga’s, Marketplace Grill, The Hive and The Preacher’s Son.
The anticipated $100,000 raised at the event will go to pay administration costs for the NWA office, and for lobbying costs at the state capitol so that the advocacy work of the organization can continue.
AACF provides leadership, research and advocacy to promote wide-ranging reforms that have improved the lives of Arkansas children for the past 30 years. Some of the initiatives the group promotes include ARKids First, providing children’s health insurance to working families; Arkansas Better Chance, a pre-kindergarten program for children in poverty, and working to pass legislation to help families in Arkansas.
Laura Kellams, Northwest Arkansas AACF director, said if the foster care system or the child abuse prevention system isn’t working, or if children are at risk for health problems, then legislation needs to be passed to address the issues at hand.
“We need to be looking at the big picture of social justice issues and make sure that we solve these issues that families face at the root of where they start. One way we’re able to address that is through the public policy system,” Kellams said. “And, we’ve proven over the years that yes, there are changes we can make that can make huge differences for thousands of kids.”
The group is working to maintain the insurance coverage that children have through ARKids First.
“We want to make sure that people understand that we protect that coverage and we don’t roll back the gains we’ve made in the last 20 years in Arkansas,” Kellams said.
In addition to the soup supper, the event also included a children’s limbo dance, and live and silent auctions. The live auction consisted of a brunch with Santa, a vacation in Estes Park, Col.; and a vacation in Costa Rica. Items in the silent auction included a birthday party appearance by Shaky Bugs’ Jules; two admission passes to Turpentine Creek Wildlife Refuge; a Body & Earth manicure/pedicure party for six; five pilates classes at Pilates & Barre; a 16 x 20 canvas print from Bedford Camera; a Unilever product basket; and a private two-hour art class for six at Terra Studios.
The Endeavor Foundation was the presenting sponsor of Soup Sunday. Harp’s, Mercy NWA and David and Pam Parks were gold sponsors.