An Okotoks chef is hoping to warm some hearts this Winter with the "Soup for a Soul" program.

The program sees soups provided for Okotoks Food Bank hampers, the High River Food Rescue, and delivered to the doors of residents in need.

Mark Klaudt and his wife Jody Crawford came up with the idea in early 2020, wanting to give back to the community in some way utilizing soup.

With the pandemic starting to take effect on Canada, and the Foothills community, Klaudt says he started to see more and more people in need.

"At that point in time, the lockdown had started and we'd just started to hear that there were people who needed food and needed supplies, so this came about through that."

From there, he began delivering soups to a seniors home in High River, the Food Rescue, and the homes of those who expressed the need for some help.

He says after honing his craft for 20 years, soup always stuck out as something he enjoyed getting creative with.

"For me, soup is like me putting together a painting. I get to create some awesome flavours and blends, and they're such a macro-nutrient dense product. You can have one meal with it, and it will fill so many nutritional needs for what you need in your diet. I think that's the really cool part about it."

The program slowed down in June when Klaudt was involved in a car accident that left him in need of some time to recover from injuries, but with the arrival of Winter, he says he's ready to bring back Soup for a Soul in a big way.

In the fall, Klaudt set a goal to provide 2000 litres of soup for the community this winter, and set about laying the groundwork to achieve that goal.

He's been provided with ingredients from the Okotoks Food Bank for the batches to be delivered for use in their hampers and plans to continue delivering batches to the Food Rescue and the homes of residents.

Local businesses and organizations have also shown their support.

The Elks Club provided the kitchen at the elk's Hall for soup preparation, and a Turner Valley resident has offered their services to provide labels for the containers.

Additionally, the staff of Tribal Connection Market in Okotoks polled their tips in order to fund the first batch.

Klaudt says the soup production is somewhat limited at the moment due to the latest COVID-19 measures.

"I'm working out components with AHS right now, to clear with all those restrictions right now. We're going to have to be a little bit focused on what those kinds of gatherings can look like. I think right now, tentatively just knowing what's going on out there with COVID, it'll be myself and another person."

Despite that, he encourages anyone wanting to volunteer to keep an eye on his social media pages.

He says the initial pilot run took him all across the Foothills area, and he's hoping to go even bigger this year.

"We were dropping anywhere from Black Diamond, High River, into South Calgary, all over town here. It was really really special and we just really loved it and hope to see the same this year, and really lighten some faces and hearts over the Christmas season especially."

Anyone wanting to volunteer or nominate a soup recipient can contact Mark and Jody via the Studio Me Facebook page, via email at studiomeokotoks@gmail.com, or over the phone at (403) 422-4673.

Additionally, a Facebook fundraiser page and a GoFundMe page have been started to provide funding for ingredients for batches delivered to homes or donated to the High River Food Rescue.

 

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