In conjunction with the biggest weekend of football of the year, Salina’s biggest weekend effort of the year to gather food for the hungry is here. The 2024 Souper Bowl of Hope will culminate on Saturday.

The Souper Bowl of Hope, organized by Project Salina, is an effort of Salina churches and businesses to gather cans of soup. Volunteers will be collecting canned soup donations at all three Dillons grocery stores on Saturday

According to organizers of the event, this past weekend volunteers collected 4,371 cans of soup and $2,109.74 in cash contributions, filling four barges.

Soup and monetary donations are also being collected at several Salina churches.  It won’t be known until the week after the Super Bowl how much will come in from the churches.

Inspired by  Super Bowl 58, the 2024 Salina “Souper Bowl of Hope” is trying to collect 58,000 cans of soup by Super Bowl Sunday to be distributed between six organizations under the Project Salina umbrella that help feed the hungry. Those organizations include:

• Salina Emergency Aid Food Bank
• Salina Salvation Army,
• Salina Rescue Mission
• Ashby House
• Domestic Violence Association of Central Kansas (DVACK)
• Salina Grace

The collection effort comes at a critical time. The annual “Project Salina” food drive in May helps stock shelves for the summer months. But by late winter, those shelves start to get bare.