Christ Church fundraiser collects $23,500 for Bradenton soup kitchen

When Our Daily Bread of Bradenton’s steam kettle broke the Friday before the Super Bowl, the nonprofit soup kitchen and food pantry knew who to turn to.

Christ Church of Longboat Key raised $23,500 during this year’s Feb. 11 Super Bowl weekend to replace the important appliance for Our Daily Bread. The steam kettle is used to prepare meals to feed 175 to 200 people daily. Our Daily Bread needed a replacement fast.

Pastor Julia Piermont was already working with Lark and Bliss Rippy, the youngest members of the congregation, to take part in the Souper Bowl of Caring program. A Presbyterian youth group started this national program to raise money for hunger ministries while celebrating the Super Bowl.

“All the churches that I've served have done this offering, and the youth groups had a lot of fun with it,” said Piermont. “Here on Longboat, we have this congregation that is mostly retired people, but we do have some younger folks. We have one family with two daughters who are active in our church choir.”

The Souper Bowl of Caring set up three pots for people to donate a few dollars in after the Super Bowl Sunday services. One pot represented the San Francisco 49ers and the other the Kansas City Chiefs. A third said “Game? What Game?” for those who didn’t plan on watching the game but still wanted to contribute.

“I got to thinking after Christmas that this was a perfect way to get the girls more involved,” said Piermont. “So, I met with the girls and told them all about it. They thought it sounded like fun, so they learned about the three different hunger ministries we support in town.”

When informed of the crisis at Our Daily Bread, picking which ministry should get the money was a no-brainer for the girls. Ann Quackenbush held the “Game? What Game?” pot decked out in her Buffalo Bills gear.

During the Super Bowl Sunday service, Lark shared with the congregation that $6,000 was needed to repair Our Daily Bread's steam kettle. Thinking they would only raise a few hundred dollars, Piermont was surprised to learn that Sunday they raised about $7,000.

Christ Church was then informed Sunday evening that instead of repairing the steam kettle, Our Daily Bread was going to replace it, which would cost $23,500. The congregation continued to submit donations to the Our Daily Bread treasurer, and the total to replace the appliance was raised by Tuesday, Feb. 13.

The steam kettle was replaced that same week. Piermont took the Rippy sisters to meet Our Daily Bread treasurer Robert Eikill and see the new steam kettle.

“It started out as a fun way for the girls to learn some more about the mission we do,” said Piermont. “And it just grew like ‘loaves and fishes.’ It was just so full of blessings all the way around.”