Off-Campus Student Gathering Raises Thousands in Food Donations for Bridgehouse Homeless Shelter

Parker Wright

For The Clock

pgwright@plymouth.edu

With the Holiday Season right around the corner, students at Plymouth State University have made a point to give back to the community. Their efforts cultivated “Soup Fest.”

Soup fest, created in the fall of 2015, has become an annual semester event bringing awareness to a good cause. Students come together for a daylong festival with live music, a competition to see who could cook the best soup, and great times, and the only ticket in is a non-perishable food donation. An estimated 500 people attended this year’s event, and the outcome was outstanding.

This year’s Soup Fest is an example of the positive impact the student body can have on our community. While filled with many exciting memories, it was also a day of giving back. Raising an estimated $2,000 worth of food donated to Plymouth’s homeless shelter and emergency food bank, there was a true sense of appreciation, and connection between the students and the town. Donations were taken straight to The Bridge House where their shelves were overflowing with all sorts of goodies.

Coordinators of the event wanted to give special thanks to a number of partners in making this year’s Soup Fest a success. Music provided by Swimmer, a band formerly based out of Plymouth State, came home to put on a great show. Annie's Overflow Restaurant, M n M Scoops and the Phat Fish Restaurant provided all sorts of help in sponsoring the event.

Establishing a personal relationship with the students, our local businesses were amazing in collaborating with the University. The future of Soup Fest looks forward to the ongoing integration with our off campus community partners. As cluster programs develop at the university, we plan to see even more of this positive engagement.

Finally, it is important to recognize our law enforcement for allowing this event to go forth. It was a two-way street of respect throughout the day. This exemplary display of coexistence between the students, police, and town has provided even more proof that anything is possible here at PSU.