Soup & Bread 2015: It’s a wrap

First things first: There is NO SOUP & BREAD today (April 1). No foolin’. Our final soup of the 2015 season took place March 25 and it was a doozy. Many many thanks to all the cooks — to Molly Breslin and her crew of cooks, all local farmers representing the brand new Band of Farmers CSA coalition; to Elliott Beier and Brian Nemtusak for jumping into the soup at the last minute; and to our favorite hot dog guy, Doug Sohn, who brought a vat of his signature 40-sausage chili. Cedar Valley Sustainable Farms’ Jody Osmund has a great writeup of his impressions of the evening over here.

We also had our traditional end-of-the-soup-season bake sale, which was ably staffed by the Sarahs (Dandelles and Bortt). And we had baskets upon baskets of delicious bread from our pals at Publican Quality Meats. And we had the best volunteer ever, Amanda Zwald, holding down the merch table. And we had the wonderful Hideout staff, hospitable as ever, keeping things clean and saving you from getting thirsty. And we had you. All of you — who together helped us raise $1036 for Vital Bridges‘ three food pantries, the only pantries in Chicago dedicated to serving people living with HIV/AIDS.

This was our seventh year doing Soup & Bread. Seven years, and more than $50,000 for local hunger relief later, I’m still perpetually amazed, and honored, by the energy and joy everyone who participates brings to the table. We may have run a short season this year, but it was as rich as ever in community and heart.

So on behalf of everyone who makes Soup & Bread go, thank you. And we’ll see you next winter!