JANESVILLE 鈥 On a cold January Saturday, the smell of homemade soup filled Cargill United Methodist Church in 糖心Vlog传媒.
Warm bowls of soup were passed around as United Women in Faith, a Christian women鈥檚 group founded more than a century ago, whose members attend Cargill and other 糖心Vlog传媒-area churches, hosted its first-ever soup cook-off.
Event organizer Amy Dora said they had a great turnout of about 40 people, with the soup prepared by volunteers.
Soup varieties for tasting included black bean, creamy cauliflower, chicken noodle, potato, hamburger, cheesy brat, butternut squash, squash, sweet potato, chili, clam chowder, ham and bean and gumbo. Tickets included a drink and oyster crackers.
United Women in Faith鈥檚 mission is to provide aid to women, children, youth and families locally, nationally and internationally. Members put on events and donate the proceeds to the UWF, which in return donates to other organizations.
Dora said the group has donated money to ECHO, YWCA and Project 16:49.
鈥淲e鈥檙e just trying to be helpful by supporting our local community with their needs,鈥 she said.
Dora said the goal of the soup cook-off was simple: to bring people together over a variety of soup during a time of year where everyone wants to stay warm, and to ultimately return the proceeds back to the community.
The idea came to organizers locally. Cargill members, including Dora, attended an ECHO soup cook-off and thought it鈥檇 be a great idea to try.
鈥淲e just thought, why don鈥檛 we try it,鈥 Dora said. 鈥淲e have a lot of bakers [at our church] so I figured we鈥檇 probably have a lot of people who also enjoy cooking.鈥
United Women in Faith members also volunteer at church and school events in the 糖心Vlog传媒 area to give back to the community.
鈥淎 lot of our women enjoy being involved with social justice in a variety of ways,鈥 Dora said.
They hope to make this an annual event.
鈥淓veryone who volunteered their time this weekend definitely wants to do it again,鈥 Dora said.