The Soup Kitchen Project, evolved out of the termination of Colorado College’s Community Kitchen, is making progress in the CC community.
The project is a way to get students actively thinking about social activism in Colorado Springs. “The Soup Project is a combined effort to find creative solutions to poverty, homelessness, and hunger in our community,” said Paige Clark, a junior involved in the project.
Multiple groups on campus have contributed to this project.
“I think people think of it just as the groups who got funding for our projects a few weeks ago,” Clark said. “But it’s actually campus-wide—namely Arts for Social Change, the Food Coalition, and all students and student groups who get involved in these initiatives.”
Thus far the Colorado College groups have gotten much recognition and funding for their ideas.
“We’ve secured seed funding for four great projects imagined by CC students in partnership with wonderful organizations here in Colorado Springs,” Clark said. The next step is to put these ideas into action.
The teams are currently working on the logistics of their projects. “Right now this mostly includes hiring interns, solidifying lots of details, running programs and workshops, and just getting the word out to the rest of CC,” said Clark.
While the closure of the Community Kitchen was not ideal and heavily protested, it has encouraged students to think harder about issues in the city.
“We’re incredibly sad to see the soup kitchen go,” Clark admitted, “but we know these initiatives will do an incredible job of addressing issues affecting the populations we’re trying to serve.”
Since the beginning of this project, Colorado Springs community members have been excited to see the work that students have put in.
“Various organizations around town are excited to see our involvement in this community increase, and it’s our job as students to step up and make it happen,” Clark said.
While Clark is positive about the future, she still thinks that there is a lot of work that needs to be done.
“We want students to know that we can and we need to do better,” said Clark. “We are in a unique position as privileged college students situated right by [downtown].”
These teams, while determined, cannot dismantle issues of poverty, homelessness, and hunger on their own. They are looking for support from the Colorado College student body.
“It’s not an easy task, and we won’t create lasting change overnight,” Clark added. “Even though it will take time, there is definitely hope. We are now closer than ever to seeing the start of a meaningful relationship between the students of Colorado College and the city that they inhabit.”