The First Christian Church, Poplar Bluff First Sunday Brunch was a Souper Bowl of Caring soup and chili cook off to benefit the local food pantry.

Nine members brought their favorite, soup, chili, stew and chowder for the competition. During the brunch, church members sampled and then voted by placing a dollar or more in a bowl indicating their choice of best soup or chili. The winner was voted Souper Bowl of Caring Champion 2017 and was given a traveling trophy.

This was in conjunction with the national campaign Souper Bowl of Caring which utilizes the Super Bowl weekend in America to mobilize people to fight hunger and poverty in their local community. One hundred percent of the $222 collected was given to the St. Vincent DePaul food pantry in Poplar Bluff.

L-R Jan Duffy, Outreach Chair, Pastor Frank Chlastak,Gail Doss, Kathy Richardson

The first place winner and 2017 Souper Bowl of Caring Champion was Rev. Frank J. Chlastak, with his winning entry of Commonwealth of Virginia Brunswick Stew. In second place was Gail Doss with her Vegetable and Beef Soup. Coming in third place was Kathy Richardson with her entry of Cajun Crawfish Chowder.

“Awesome soup and chili and a time of fellowship was had by all. The real winner of the Souper Bowl of Caring was our local food pantry and those in need of good quality food.”

Thanks to pastor Frank Chlastak for this story and photos.