SOUPER BOWL OF CARING
Monday, February 2nd - Friday, February 6th
WHAT IS SOUPER BOWL OF CARING (SBOC)?
The Souper Bowl of Caring is a school-wide non-perishable food donation drive that is held the first week of February, from 2/2/26 thru 2/6/26.
Many children in HISD schools only eat when they are at school. Grocery prices and the cost of living has gone WAY up and for many families it is a choice between filling their children’s bellies or paying utilities and rent. Each year our school comes together to make a huge impact on the HISD Food Pantries. Students bring canned and packaged food donations to help stock 75 food pantries with nonperishable food items for hungry HISD students and families. Previously, we have donated OVER 100,000 ITEMS of food! Donations from WUES helped stock those 75 food pantries for 8 month’s worth of emergency food. Let’s make it a year’s worth this time.
HOW WILL WE DO THIS?
- Like last year, we will be asking for single-serve or family-size donations. The donated items will be sorted at an HISD facility and given to children to take home in their backpacks. We are prioritizing QUANTITY over weight or size.
- Any and all donations are appreciated.
- Every student will receive a grocery bag the week of 1/26/26. Students can fill the grocery bag with items from their pantry or pick up more at the grocery store. And families should feel free to fill additional bags, boxes, or whatever you want to bring your donations in.
- Each class will be assigned a location (University or Goode Street) where they’ll drop-off donations daily.
HOW CAN YOU HELP?
It takes the whole team to pull off this massive effort.
SIGN UP HERE to tally and box donated items, play jenga with the loaded boxes as a heavy lifting volunteer, or sweep the halls for classroom donations.
NOTE: THIS YEAR WE ARE OFFERING BONUS POINTS FOR EACH VOLUNTEER SIGN UP. YOU MUST CHECK IN AT EITHER THE GOODE STREET OR UNIVERSITY SET UPS TO GET YOUR CREDIT.
WHAT ABOUT COMPETITION?
Duh… of course we will continue our most exciting intra-school competition! More details will follow in the coming weeks, but here’s the run-down…
- We award points for every item donated; there is a daily bonus item which will earn DOUBLE points.
- Teachers will get tally sheets in their boxes the week of 1/26 (one specific to each day M-F). The parent volunteer will tally up the day’s donations and take the tally sheet with the items to the donation location.
- We will announce the winners of the grade-level (one winner each from K through 5th) and school-wide competitions (top 3 in the whole school) on February 10th during a school-wide celebration.
- Please also remind your classes that: while the competition aspect is fun, we want the REAL winners to be the kids and families that are served by HISD’s Food Bank. We also want our kids to enjoy serving others and practice all of those social-emotional skills that are built through service learning.
I HAVE MORE QUESTIONS...WHO CAN I ASK?
Below are some Frequently Asked Questions. You may also reach out to the chairs at sboc@westupto.org. Thank you!
click image to see needed items & double items!
click image to see prizes!
Questions?
Click here to email the
SBOC Chairs:
Morning Winterholler, Lacey Madeley & Sarah Barrett
Souper Bowl of Caring
Frequently Asked Questions
1. What happens if I drop off my donation after 8:15AM?
Your donation will be saved and counted as part of the following day’s count.
2. Do Bonus Point items count as Bonus Point items all week long?
No. A Monday Bonus Point item will only earn two points if brought on Monday by 8:15AM. If it is brought later in the week, or brought after 8:15AM and saved for the following day, it will be treated as a single point donation.
3. Can I still earn volunteer points for my child’s class if I forget to sign in as a volunteer?
No. There are sign-in sheets available at both Goode Street and University Street locations. All volunteers must sign in every day to receive any bonus points.
4. What is the best way to drop off a large volume of food donations?
Please email the Souper Bowl of Caring Chairs at sboc@westupto.org by 9PM the night before your donation to let us know how much you are bringing. Your donation must be counted ahead of time. We prefer that large donations are dropped off on Goode Street.
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To ease congestion, any large donations brought on Friday (the last day of the campaign) must be dropped off before 7:30AM since the classes will be coming out to the donation sites.
5. What kind of milk counts as a bonus item?
Powdered, canned, or shelf-stable milk in individual sizes counts as a bonus item. Sweetened condensed milk does not qualify for bonus points. We will count chocolate milk as a bonus item, but chocolate drinks such as Yoohoo that are not milk-based will not count as a bonus item. A good rule of thumb is to make sure the drink says “Chocolate Milk” and not “Chocolate Drink.”
6. Will ramen count as a bonus item?
No. We are accepting ramen as a single-point donated food item but it will not count as a bonus item. HISD noted that while ramen is helpful, pasta and canned ravioli are more strongly preferred.
7. When will we find out who is winning each day or wins the entire competition?
Principal Disch will announce the top winners to the school at the end of each day and the PTO will share the number of points earned by each class every day. We will announce the winners of the grade-level (one winner each from K through 5th) and school-wide competitions (top 3 in the whole school) on February 9th during a school-wide celebration.
8. Will fruit snacks count as a bonus item?
No. Fruit snacks are not considered a fruit and will not count as a bonus item.
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9. Will meat sticks and jerky count as a "meat" item eligible for bonus points?
Meat sticks and jerky count as "100% meat" as long as the first ingredient is a type of meat.
10. Will trail mix count as a "nuts" item eligible for bonus points?
Trail mix can count toward "nuts" as long as the first ingredient is a type of nut.
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12. Will applesauce or fruit/vegetable purees packaged in cups, cans, or pouches count as an item eligible for bonus points?
Yes, these items are eligible for bonus points.
11. What if I have more questions?
Please email the Souper Bowl of Caring Chairs at sboc@westupto.org.
Thank you to our awesome sponsors!
