Souper Bowl of Caring, Taste of the NFL raise hunger funds

JACKSONVILLE (FBW)–Two Super Bowl-related events aimed at easing hunger both took place on Super Bowl weekend, Feb. 5-6.

One, the “Souper Bowl of Caring,” mobilized thousands of youth from across the country to collect millions on Super Bowl Sunday, Feb. 6, which they can send to their charity of choice.

The Souper Bowl’s 2005 goal is $5 million. As of Feb. 14, the organization had received reports of donations of $2,846,584 from 8,247 organizations, according to Tracy Bond, a Souper Bowl spokesperson.

Youth typically stand at the church doors after worship services with soup pots and solicit funds from exiting worshippers. Although youth groups may determine which ministry will receive the funds collected at their church, organizers ask youth leaders to report the collection totals to www.souperbowl.org.

Another event, Taste of the NFL, is an annual food tasting extravaganza held the night before the Super Bowl, Feb. 5. Chefs represented the 32 teams, plus an additional chef for the Pro Bowl team. The proceeds from tickets which range in cost from $400 – $600 raised more than $820,000 last year and $5.3 million since the first event in 1992. The funds will be distributed to the Lutheran Social Services Second Harvest Food Bank of Northeast Florida as well as Second Harvest Food Banks in each NFL city and the Food Research & Action Center.

The 2005 Taste of the NFL was at the Bolles School in Ponte Vedra.

Hailing from the Bible Belt, former Atlanta Falcons Tommy Nobis told Florida Baptist Witness he believes people need more than food, they also need faith.

“With the NFL it’s not how you worship, but if you worship, and that’s important,” Nobis said at the Taste of the NFL event.

Fred McAfee, a 12-year veteran of the New orleans Saints, credited his time at Mississippi College, a Baptist school in Clinton, Miss., for giving him a firm footing in life.

“I got Jesus,” McAfee said. “When you go to a Baptist College, you get a real better understanding of how Jesus lived and the Bible and everything.”

Emmalene Hunter said she and her husband, James, a retired Detroit Lions player who was inducted into the Afro-American Sports Hall of Fame in 1996, recently put their faith in Jesus Christ.

“Everybody needs God in their life,” she told the Witness. “I wish I could have accepted Him long before now.”

And with Christ has come a better relationship between the two, she said.

“Every man goes through changes, but when you have God in your life it’s unbelievable,” Hunter said. “Every morning you get up and you thank God for opening your eyes. You thank Him for life, for breathing.”