Get your soup on.
Talented potters will donate handcrafted bowls to help benefit some of the most vulnerable people in Nanaimo. The biggest fundraiser of the Nanaimo Citizen Advocacy Association, the SouperBowl, takes place later this month. Proceeds go toward the non-profit group that is dedicated to helping people who seek assistance, whether that be counselling, education, referrals or support, including outreach or crisis advocacy. Clients include the working poor, seniors or people with mental or physical disabilities. The demand for such services has steadily increased, according to NCAA executive director Jeorge McGladrey. Last year, the non-profit group reported 30,218 interventions, up more than 5,000 a year earlier. Interventions refer to an individual service, which can be anything from help with a pension plan to counselling, said McGladrey. The sixth annual SouperBowl has more than 50 original bowls submitted already, in a variety of colours, glazes, sizes and shapes, including one bowl with purple sculpted starfish handles. Many of the professional potters who donate their creations for a good cause hail from the Nanaimo area but others are scattered across B.C., including one potter who is in Japan but mailing his bowls to the Island for the event.
Dozens of people came out to canvass creations last year, where a suggested donation gets you a bowl — which is then filled with soup made by a local restaurant. And the recipes are not your regular chicken noodle past years have seen roasted red pepper and soups with a mexican flair.