Every Good Soup has a Story
Soup Sisters is a non-profit charitable organization dedicated to providing highly nourishing, quality, well-balanced donations of soup to agencies and shelters Canada-wide. Whether it is a local soup-making event or orders from the Soup Bank, thousands of litres of soup are intentionally and cost-effectively created every year for front-line organizations supporting those in need.
What began as a desire to help, and mark a milestone birthday has become a national charity providing nourishment to some of the community's most vulnerable. By working with organizations that are on the ground providing essential services, Soup Sisters soup helps start the conversation that connects people to the resources they need. Since 2009, more than 4 million hugs-in-a-bowl have been delivered in 27 cities nationwide.
The simplicity of Founder Sharon Hapton’s vision began with a soup-making birthday party that evolved into giving people a way to give back to their community by doing something tangible – coming together in the camaraderie of the kitchen and creating something heartwarming, heartfelt and with it a message of support to families in crisis.
In 2020 Soup Sisters transformed to a Soup Bank model and developed recipes for large kettle production in a food safe production facility. With the support of Lineage Logistics, the newly formed and original Soup Bank model has delivered over 225,000 lbs of fresh soup to more than
40 agencies country wide.
Today the charity operates a hybrid model of community soup-making events and Soup Bank large kettle production to provide thousands of wholesome and inclusive meals, while making a significant impact on alleviating food insecurity.
About the Founder
I am a soup maker. For most of my adult life, I have taken care of family and friends with soup. If someone was down or needed some extra care, I would show up at their door, most often unannounced and with soup. I knew that this simple gesture had the power to change their day and, in the process of making it, I was letting them know how much I cared.
The whole exchange – the soup-making, the visit, the comfort it provided and appreciation it returned – created a fulfilling cycle of giving.
Here was the recipe for Soup Sisters. All it took was for me to realize that I didn’t need to look beyond my truest self, that what I was looking for had always been inside me just waiting to be recognized.
After all, I am, and always have been, a soup maker. SHARON HAPTON is a successful Calgary-based business woman, mother of two, and the founder and CEO of Soup Sisters. In 2008-2009, over the course of the year leading up to her 50th birthday, Sharon was ruminating on how to turn her heartfelt belief in the healing power of homemade soup into an action plan to help women in crisis. These unrelenting thoughts were compounded by her new status as an empty nester when, in her words, “I found myself in the most giant nurture void of my life.” Sharon fine-tuned her ruminations into a full-blown operational plan and founded Soup Sisters, a grassroots organization that would engage thousands in a movement that has delivered over 3 million ‘Hugs in a Bowl to’ families in crisis. She has been recognized for her work regionally and nationally, selected as one of Chatelaine’s and CityTV’s Women of the Year, Global Television’s Woman of Vision, featured in Women of Influence Magazine, and chosen by YWCA - She Who Dares Honouring 150 Women through 150+ years. In 2016 Sharon received the Meritorious Service Medal, by the Governor General of Canada on behalf of the Queen for bringing honour to Canada through performing exceptional deeds.