2009: A "Souper" Deed

Members of a Tulsa youth
group presented a special
gift to Filling The Void
in February. That's youth
pastor Justin Hedges on
the left, Ashley from
the youth group, and Filling
The Void's Kelly Swan.










A 'SOUPER' DUPER DEED

Faith. Football. And Filling the Void. The combination will all make sense after we tell you about a terrific teen at Tulsa’s Central Church.

Ashley H. recently told her youth pastor that she wanted to “do more” for the Lord. It’s the kind of conversation youth pastors dream of.

So Justin Hedges pointed Ashley to a project called the Souper Bowl of Caring. That’s right – souper, as in, soup. You can check it out at www.souperbowl.org.

A church in South Carolina hatched the idea years ago to turn Super Bowl Sunday into a youth-led weekend of giving and serving.

According to project officials, teens across the country have raised $50 million for charities of their choice since 1990.

Ashley chose us. She and her youth group routinely rally to assemble our lunch sacks. In fact, a member of their youth group (Zach) holds the record for most sacks stuffed in a single hour.

For Ashley’s Filling The Void fundraiser, she organized an all-church fellowship following the Sunday morning service on Feb. 1 – hours before the NFL’s biggest game of the year.

At Ashley’s prompting, roughly 15 families brought crock pots steaming with chili and soups. As people filled their bowls, they also pitched in dollar after dollar into a donation bucket.

In the end, Ashley collected $610.35 – easily enough to help Filling The Void feed hundreds of people in Tulsa and Denver.

Ashley’s selfless and generous spirit is what we see all the time, even from those we serve. Wait ‘til you hear about the offerings we’re getting at our outreaches. You’ll be blown away.