Stone Soup fundraiser supports student nutrition
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Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 11/03/2022 (1465 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
Seven Westman restaurant locations are taking part in the 10th annual Stone Soup fundraiser, which is slated to run from Monday to Sunday next week.
Throughout this time, $1 from every signature bowl of soup sold will be donated to the Child Nutrition Council of Manitoba (CNCM) to help support various meal and snack programs in kindergarten to Grade 12 schools.
Plus, members of the public will also get the chance to cast a vote for their favourite soup online.
While this initiative has traditionally been relegated to Winnipeg, the CNCM decided to expand its boundaries to include the rest of the province this year, since the demand for nutritious foods and snacks has spiked throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Half of the programs we support are located outside of Winnipeg,” CNCM chairperson Wendy Bloomfield said in a Wednesday news release.
“We know these communities value these programs and would welcome the opportunity to support the continued work of the Council in their local schools.”
The Brandon School Division is no stranger to working with the council, since 21 of its 24 institutions have breakfast, snack or lunch programs supported by the organization.
On a province-wide scale, BSD has the highest ratio of CNCM involvement outside of the Flin Flon School Division (four out of four schools) and the Seven Oaks School Division (22 out of 25 schools).
Knowing this, Lady of the Lake manager Kaleigh Stobbe told the Sun that taking part in the 2022 Stone Soup fundraiser was an easy decision, especially since the BSD board is making major staffing reductions for the next academic year.
“I just think it’s a very worthy cause,” Stobbe said on Friday, specifying that the funds generated by Lady of the Lake will go directly to École New Era School.
“I noticed there were some cuts already to the school division, and I just think these kids need all the support they can get.”
Chez Angela Bakery and Café co-owner James Chambers was eager to sign up for this year’s expanded fundraiser as well, given that his restaurant staff are already familiar with these local nutritional programs.
“We donate loaves of bread for making sandwiches and providing meals to students,” he said. “So this is just kind of extending that opportunity to support the schools who are participating in programming that makes sure kids get really good food in front of them.”
On top of supporting school programs, this expanded fundraiser also presents smaller Westman restaurants with the opportunity to generate some extra business after enduring two years of pandemic restrictions.
Mumzz Kitchen manager Ryan Huynh has had to deal with this kind of hardship at the ground level, with his family deciding to open up a second location in Minnedosa in the spring of 2020.
“So it never really had its full opportunity to get established and settled, compared to our other location [in Gladstone] which we’ve had in operation for about 10 years now,” Huynh said.
“The location in Minnedosa … it’s been a very tough go, just based on the shut downs and staff shortages and all those kinds of things that have been going on in the past couple years.”
Café Trocadero owner Marisa Philippe also decided to expand her business during the pandemic, opening up a second Dauphin location last July.
While this experience has been full of challenges, Philippe told the Sun that she is optimistic heading into next week, believing that all the restaurant owners who signed up for this year’s Stone Soup fundraiser have a lot to offer on their respective menus.
“Because the businesses that are supporting this, those are the people who are cooking real food. It’s not frozen buns and ingredients that are warmed up,” she said. “So I have an appreciation for all businesses for making the effort to bring in real and fresh food.”
Anyone interested in learning more about the 2022 CNCM Stone Soup fundraiser can visit childnutritioncouncil.com/stone-soup-2022.
» kdarbyson@brandonsun.com
» Twitter:@KyleDarbyson