FOND DU LAC – What do you get when you mix together generous local restaurants, delicious soups, a supportive community, and a great cause? A successful Soup du Jour
fundraiser! In its fourth year, Holy Family Catholic Community’s Soup du Jour raised $5,500 for the Holyland Food Pantry and Holy Family Warming Shelter. Soup du Jour, Holy Family’s annual fundraiser, sells soup donated by Fond du Lac area restaurants and businesses to benefit organizations caring for those in need in the community. This year, the Holyland Food Pantry and Holy Family Warming Shelter were the event’s beneficiaries. Based in Marytown, Holyland Food Pantry provides supplemental and emergency food to people in need in the Holyland, as well as refers people to additional resources. The Holy Family Warming Shelter opened in November 2023 and every night through April provides warmth, safety, and food to single adults experiencing homelessness in the community. This year, when the call went out to local restaurants to participate in Soup du Jour, the community responded like never before, with more than 20 donating soup to the event. Participants included A&W Restaurant, Annie’s Catering, Avenue 795, Bob’s on the Avenue, Boda’s Restaurant & Catering, Brick House, Catering by Juan, Downtown Deli, Market, Café, Elaine Graf and Associates of First Weber, Faros Restaurant,
Cocktails, Fat Joe’s Burgers and Brew, Friar Tuck’s, Gilles Frozen Custard, Hotel Retlaw | Table One Restaurant, Oasis Family Restaurant, Red Cabin at Green Acres, Rolling Meadows Restaurant, Salty’s Seafood & Spirits, The Stretch Restaurant, The Diner, The Hive, Theo’s 24, The Sweet & Salty Pig, Top Shelf Sports Bar & Grille, and
Tucker’s Hamburgers. Holy Family Pastoral Council, Human Concerns Commission, Hispanic Ministry, and staff also contributed soup. A team of volunteers helped to package the soup into individual containers, and then on March 2, acted as carhops, taking orders from community members who had lined up in the Holy Family Church parking lot to purchase soup. With flavors ranging from Chicken Dumpling to Loaded Baked Potato, many community members purchased at least three soups, with some purchasing more than a dozen, excited to try local restaurants’ creations and support the pantry and shelter. In total, the event sold more than 1,200 containers of soup, collecting $5,500. Both
the Holyland Food Pantry and Holy Family Warming Shelter will receive $2,750 from the fundraiser. Since it began at Holy Family three years ago, Soup du Jour has donated more than $15,000 to local organizations. “Every year, we are wowed by the support we receive for Soup du Jour—not only from the restaurants that donate but also the community members who turn out to purchase soup. This year, the support was incredible, and we are very grateful for everyone who participated in the fundraiser in some way,” Holy Family Director of Human Concerns Erin Cobb said.
