The invitation on Reddit was titled - “Need food? Come get soup!”
Athenian Charlie Tipton came up with the idea with friends Lou and Josh Jackson.
“We recently read a paper together about some things you can do to help your community and they had a pretty iconic like which was "Make soup, invite people over for soup and don't stop inviting people over for soup."," says Charlie, "And we’ve taken that VERY literal today.”
Lou says they were inspired by a ‘zine, "It’s a zine called called "Don’t Just Do Nothing," and it has 20 things you can do for free to fight the disparities happening in your own community - things you can do to make sure people feel safe and comfortable living nearby.
Soup is one of the easiest things that you can do - just grab some veggies, grab some meat, put it together - you have soup! And since it’s one of the easiest things you can do, it’s one of the cheapest - sometimes even free - ways to feed people that need it right now."
Once they posted it on Reddit, people started responding – voicing support for the idea and even reaching out to offer food. Charlie says, “I think a lot of people were just looking for an excuse to have community and no one was telling them, "Hey, you could do XYZ," and since we're just giving people an opportunity who already want to do these things - we're just giving them a place to donate those items that they already have. It seems to be a very easy and approachable way for people to be active in the community right now. And that's shockingly beneficial."
It turned out to be pretty simple - they posted some cardboard signs with “free soup” scribbled in sharpie and set up a folding table in the driveway of their apartment complex, just off Lexington Rd. in Athens. There, they laid out some cups and bowls, some fresh-baked bread and several pots of soup.
Josh looks at the soup as somewhat of a metaphor, “I think the biggest thing I can take from the soup aspect of this whole thing is how each ingredient can be considered as a different demographic. The whole point is bringing it all together so we create something together. That’s the whole point.”
The hope is that this simple offer of food and fellowship can begin to break down some of the walls they see going up in these politically charged times. Lou Jackson adds, “I’ve been noticing so many people are feeling divided, I’ve been noticing it’s always been a political left versus right thing…So what we’re trying to do or what we’ve noticed is that when you lead with kindness, when you lead with humanity, then people tend to come together and it’s easier to get that collective point across. It’s not really a political message attached to it other than it costs nothing to be kind.”
When everything feels so uncertain, when so many people feel overwhelmed and helpless, it feels good to be able to do something - to spread some positivity and hope. Josh says, "The whole goal was for us to get through this point and hopefully on the other side be stronger for it - be able to look back and see that we did some good.
Lou adds, "We're hoping that we can help out, you know, anyone in need – the homeless, we're hoping we can help out. Anyone who's hungry? Anyone who feels like they don't have friends or a place to go to talk, you know? And that's another reason why we're out here about to serve soup is we want to hear everyone's stories. We want to make sure that everyone knows that they're heard in this community. Everyone has a voice."
Charlie, Lou and Josh are now preparing for their next gathering - a picnic in the park, at noon, Saturday, March 1 at Lay Community Park in Athens with food for anyone who needs it.
