Souper Bowl gears up for annual football-themed charity drive

Published: 2003-12-03

WASHINGTON (CNS) -- Come Feb. 1, millions of Americans will be glued to the television, watching the Super Bowl. That same day, 60 teenagers high school age and up will be answering phones in Columbia, S.C., taking down information from church youth groups around the country about how much money they have collected to benefit their local food banks. Now known officially as the Souper Bowl of Caring -- the last two words were tacked on by organizers after the National Football League expressed some discomfort with the original name -- the fund-raiser is one of those rare endeavors where 100 percent of the money collected goes to charity. The drive has youth groups ask churchgoers for a dollar and/or a canned good as they leave church on Super Bowl Sunday. Last year's Souper Bowl reported $3.53 million in donations collected by 11,095 organizations. That brings the total to $20 million collected since the campaign's start in 1990, when only 20 South Carolina churches took part.

Copyright (c) 2003 Catholic News Service /U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. The CNS news report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed, including but not limited to such means as framing or any other digital copying or distribution method, in whole or in part without the prior written authority of Catholic News Service .