What better time than Super Bowl week to commit to helping out Souper Wednesdays at the Loaves & Fishes Community Soup Kitchen in Columbus?

The ecumenical ministry is in need of a soup boost. While volunteer teams from churches, businesses and other organizations prepare and serve meals most weekdays, Wednesdays are set aside for soups.

“Wednesdays are Souper Wednesdays, and we’re getting low on soups and ingredients we use to ‘soup up the soup,'” explained Ann Sparkman, vice president and house chair of Loaves & Fishes. The nonprofit organization hopes the community will restock the pantries with donations of Bear Creek Country Kitchen Soup Mixes and large cans of vegetables that can be added to the soups.

About a year ago the soup kitchen was offering a midday meal only on Mondays and Fridays, plus one Thursday a month. Today, volunteers are servings almost every weekday of the month — more than 25,000 meals in 2015.

The place was humming Monday. A busy crew bustled in the kitchen. They kept food coming as about 125 people lined up for a hot lunch on a “fairly slow” day. A brigade of aproned helpers from Annunciation Catholic School worked the front of the house, pouring tea and wiping down tables.

Cleaning in the kitchen after the crowd thinned, volunteer Bill Adams said, “When I first started doing this, I really didn’t know there was that much of a need. Now that I’ve been doing it a little more than a year, I see more and more that people depend on it.”

Mississippi University for Women student and (AmeriCorps) College Corps representative Zibiah Cunningham agreed. She volunteers every Monday and Friday.

“I think this is very important, very needed in the community, and most of them are very thankful,” she said.

Donate soups, veggies

Sparkman encourages Sunday School classes, garden clubs, Scout troops, social clubs, bunco and bridge groups and businesses to hold soup drives and collect Bear Creek mixes and vegetables.

“You can give a packet and know that you have helped feed eight people,” she pointed out.

First Baptist Church team volunteer Carol Perkerson said, “When you mix the 8 cups of water with one of those bags, that’s a lot of soup. And we add a lot of things to it as well.”

Loaves & Fishes’ preferred soup mix flavors are chicken noodle, chili, creamy potato, minestrone, tortilla and vegetable beef — available at Food Giant, Kroger and Walmart. Large cans of foods such as mixed vegetables, chili beans, diced tomatoes, pinto beans and corn can be added to the mixes to make them even more hearty and filling.

“We can really use those vegetables to build the soups up and feed even more people,” said Adams, who is a chief cook on the Annunciation Catholic Church team. “I’m just thankful I can have the opportunity to help some of these people. I thank God for that opportunity.”

Donations of soup mixes or vegetables can be deposited in marked bins in the First Baptist Church foyer, 202 Seventh St. N.; at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, 318 College St.; or at Hopkins Insurance at 109 Fifth St. N., all in Columbus.

For those who prefer to make monetary donations, $200 to $250 sponsors a week of meals. Smaller amounts toward sponsorships are welcome, too.

Souped up at home

Loaves & Fishes’ volunteers have become real fans of the Bear Creek mixes; many serve them at home. Sparkman shared a few tips for customizing them, depending on a family’s preferences.

With the creamy potato mix, she suggested that instead of using the full complement of called-for water, make it half water and half whipping cream or milk for a super creamy version. Cubed ham adds another layer of flavor as well.

For the chili mix, consider including a can of Bush’s chili beans for an added kick.

In the tortilla soup, add a can of pinto beans and then crushed tortilla chips on top with grated cheddar cheese for a delicious meal, she recommended.

Not that much

Sparkman and all Loaves & Fishes volunteers appreciate strong community support that has allowed this outreach ministry to grow so much since it was established in 2008. They count on that support again to keep Wednesdays “souper.”

“A bag of soup is not that much,” Perkerson said. “They’re relatively inexpensive, and a lot of times on sale. You don’t have to buy a case of soup; if everybody does just a little, if everybody would buy just three or four bags, it would last a year!”

For more information about the soup kitchen at 22nd Street North, donations or volunteering, call 662-549-8607.

Jan Swoope is the Lifestyles Editor for The Commercial Dispatch.