TYLER, Texas — Tyler Junior College held their first 'Souper Bowl'– and despite the name, no football was involved.
Fresh soup and handcrafted ceramic bowls were made by students at Tyler Junior College at the event.
For just $10, people could pick their favorite bowl and sample any of the soups on the menu, with all the funds benefiting a great cause.
"All of the proceeds that we make today are going toward the food pantry here on campus at TJC to help provide food for the students who don’t have it right now in their budget due to inflation," TJC culinary arts instructor Kortney McMillian said.
For the culinary students, instructors Rebekah Pool and McMillian mentioned experiences like this are great for their students to step out from the kitchen and get to be face-to-face with customers.
"It’s just to give them experience, real world experience on being in front of the public. Usually as a chef you’re not in front of the public as much," Pool said.
Dave Funk, Tyler Junior College Honors Program director and ceramics teacher, said the study of food insecurity among students helped spark his idea for the first 'Souper Bowl.'
"A study not too long ago really highlighted the amount of food insecurity on campus – (it was) a survey of students. Not only that, we know how much food insecurity we have on campus but we also knew that a lot of people didn’t know about the availability of the pantry, the resources it has, and what they can get there. So this is hopefully a way to kind of hit both of those things – we give them some additional funds and hopefully we can raise awareness," Funk said.
As for Funk's ceramics students, the handmade bowls were a hit - drawing a crowd large enough to sell almost all the bowls in the first 30 minutes.
"I think we ended up making about 100 because we weren't sure how many people we were going to have. Obviously, we would have liked to have more. We want to make sure we take care of everybody," Funk said.
With the success of this year's event, both the arts and culinary arts programs hope that it’s something they can do again in the years to come.