Giving Back is SOUPer Easy!
Hugh Brockway (Fuel Up Program Advisor, Lovettsville VA) was working on his Healthy Eating Play with his Fuel Up team. He learned through school staff that volunteered at a local food pantry that food donations significantly drop off after the holidays and thought it was a great opportunity to make a difference in their community.
Hugh’s team decided to do a non-perishable food drive to help. They got creative and decided to use an event that most people got excited about: The Super Bowl. They began labeling the food donation bins with the two NFL teams that were playing in the Super Bowl that year. The idea took off from there. Each day leading up to the big game, Fuel Up students would count the number of donations and then announce the totals on the morning announcement TV show as if they were saying the score of the game. "OK, at the end of two days we have the Chiefs leading with 28 cans and the 49ers are close with 21 cans so far." This seemed to really motivate more and more students to bring donations in to change the score. The donations were accepted up to the Friday before the Super Bowl.
“To me, this is what Fuel Up is all about - inspiring students and adults to do good, fun, and healthy things for each other and our community. The students love participating in things like this, and they all know that they are helping other people and families, said Hugh.”
During their first SOUPer Bowl Food Drive in 2020, the team collected 339 total cans and in 2021 that number grew to 515. Hugh’s school is patiently awaiting the outcome of the Conference Championship games in order to start this year’s food drive.
"It makes me SUPER or (SOUPER) happy to help other people," said Lucas (Fuel Up student).
Whether it’s the Super Bowl or another school or community event, the key is to get your Fuel Up teams to rally around something they’re passionate about to give back to their community.
Hugh’s team decided to do a non-perishable food drive to help. They got creative and decided to use an event that most people got excited about: The Super Bowl. They began labeling the food donation bins with the two NFL teams that were playing in the Super Bowl that year. The idea took off from there. Each day leading up to the big game, Fuel Up students would count the number of donations and then announce the totals on the morning announcement TV show as if they were saying the score of the game. "OK, at the end of two days we have the Chiefs leading with 28 cans and the 49ers are close with 21 cans so far." This seemed to really motivate more and more students to bring donations in to change the score. The donations were accepted up to the Friday before the Super Bowl.
“To me, this is what Fuel Up is all about - inspiring students and adults to do good, fun, and healthy things for each other and our community. The students love participating in things like this, and they all know that they are helping other people and families, said Hugh.”
During their first SOUPer Bowl Food Drive in 2020, the team collected 339 total cans and in 2021 that number grew to 515. Hugh’s school is patiently awaiting the outcome of the Conference Championship games in order to start this year’s food drive.
"It makes me SUPER or (SOUPER) happy to help other people," said Lucas (Fuel Up student).
Whether it’s the Super Bowl or another school or community event, the key is to get your Fuel Up teams to rally around something they’re passionate about to give back to their community.
