Penticton’s Discovery House dished out soup for the 11th consecutive year in 2022 and did so while setting all-time community fundraising records.
Clients at the addiction recovery program cooked the soup themselves from Feb. 25 to March 25, selling over 500 dishes each week and raising almost $20,000 overall.
“The support has just been awesome,” said Jerome Abraham, the program’s executive director.
The recovery program raised $14,000 from the annual Soup is Good Fundraiser in 2021, a record for the centre at the time. In 2022, though, a new mark has been set.
Abraham told the Western News on Wednesday, March 30, that the fundraising total has breezed past $19,000 and is now pushing $20,000, as staff members continue to add up the sales.
“I don’t want to sound sarcastic but I always wonder before every fundraiser whether it’s worth putting on, and in this case it was,” he added.
The annual fundraiser may have officially ended last Friday, March 25, but that doesn’t mean the recovery program isn’t going to be dishing out its popular soup dishes until 2023.
An ambitious project that will see Discovery House start a new business and cook even more soup to raise money for addiction treatment is expected to become an official venture sometime in May.
“I’ve had a least a dozen calls this week from people asking ‘can I get more soup?’, so we’ve decided we’re just going to do this full-time,” Abraham said.
With the help of local professional chef Shayna Shulman, clients in the recovery program got to cook for the community and learn a new skill at the same time, sparking the idea to continue the weekly activity later in the spring.
Curried Ginger Squash, French Stew, Thai Chicken Curry, Heavenly Hamburger, Creamy Roasted Mushroom and Mediterranean Chick Pea were among the many soups offered by Discovery House over the last five weeks.
One order of soup — coming with a McDonald’s coffee and Cobs bun — cost $8 and was delivered to the customer’s preferred location on Friday mornings by one of the centre’s four designated delivery drivers.
Funds are used to keep the house, located on 633 Winnipeg Street, and its various services going to help those in need get addiction treatment as quickly as possible.
Community members can keep up with Discovery House’s latest initiatives and fundraisers here.
@lgllockhart
logan.lockhart@pentictonwesternnews.com
Like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.