Super Bowl Sunday Marks Largest Youth-Led Day of Giving
Thousands of caring teens will take part in Souper Bowl of Caring, a nationwide initiative to transform Super Bowl Sunday into the nation’s largest youth-led day of giving. On Sunday, February 5, 2006, youth will stand in front of churches and stores.
Today, as tens of millions of Americans turn their attention to the showdown between the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Seattle Seahawks, thousands of young people throughout the United States will be working to transform one of the nation’s universal days of parties into an opportunity to care for their neighbors in need.
Caring teens will take part in Souper Bowl of Caring, a nationwide initiative to transform Super Bowl Sunday into the nation’s largest youth-led day of giving. Youth will stand in front of churches and stores and attend Super Bowl parties with soup pots to collect dollar bills for the hungry.
“This will be an especially poignant year for Souper Bowl of Caring,” said Brad Smith, a Presbyterian who launched the effort with a simple prayer in 1993.
“We are celebrating a significant organizational milestone — 15 years and $28 million for local charities, and the Super Bowl is in Detroit, which was recently identified as America’s poorest big city. It is a very appropriate location to draw attention to the needs of our nation’s hungry and demonstrate how small efforts can make a huge difference.”
There are 36.3 million people in America, including 13 million children, who live in households that experience hunger or are at the risk of hunger, according to Bread for the World.
Two-thirds of those at risk of food insecurity do not actually experience hunger because of help provided by churches, charities, and the federal government, according to the World Hunger Education Service.
In more recent years, however, churches and charities have been straining to meet the needs through their pantries and soup kitchens.
The U.S. Conference of Mayors reported that charities in over half the cities surveyed (56 percent) said they are not able to provide an adequate quantity of food.
High housing costs, low-paying jobs, unemployment, and the economic downturn led the list of reasons contributing to the rise.
Youths, however, are working to battle the tide. This year, from Jan. 15 to Feb. 4, the officially-sanctioned event of the 2006 Detroit Super Bowl XL Host committee held Blitzathons — “souped”-up advance tailgate parties – in 15 cities. Every penny raised is given to local charities, chosen by each participating group. Results can be monitored on Super Bowl Sunday in real time at www.SouperBowl.org.
Last year, more than 11,000 congregations and schools raised $4 million in all 50 states, Canada, the Netherlands, Germany, Puerto Rico and Brazil, according to the Presbyterian News Service. Since the campaign's founding in 1993, more than $28 million have been collected and given to needy neighbors.
Smith highlighted the simplicity of the movement.
"Imagine the positive impact if even half of the 130 million people who watch the big game gave one dollar to help those in need," he said.
It is “a simple movement of God's grace," he added. "Mother Teresa once said, ‘God doesn’t call us to do great things, but small things with great love.’"
While as many as 130 million people are expected to watch Super Bowl XL today across the nation, up to one billion are estimated to tune-in from 225 countries and territories worldwide.
The annual championship game of the National Football League (NFL) is one of the most-watched American television broadcasts of the year and has almost become a de facto American national holiday.