Naples ladies offering folks homemade soup

Four ladies from Naples are attempting to feed the community one meal a week.

Jenny Napier, Oma Sanders, Farrell Cutler and Jeneen Schuler will host Soups On from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. every Friday in the new community room at South Boundary Fire District’s station in Naples.

The women, who will receive help from Naples Helping Hands, will make one homemade soup each week. The soup will be served with bread donated by the Naples Elementary School Parent-Teacher Association, Sanders said. Anyone can come and eat for free or a donation.

“It’s there for anybody,” she said. “It’s a community effort to get together and meet our neighbors and feed our neighbors in need or not in need.”

Last Friday’s soup was chunky vegetable filled with corn, peas, potatoes and tomatoes.

“We had a couple gallons left and next week the soup will be minestrone. We’ll just add to it,” Sanders said.

Residents have been donating ingredients to make soups. Donations so far have included a case of crushed tomatoes, a case of chicken stock, crackers from Helping Hands, potatoes, corn and peas.

“It’s all made from scratch,” Sanders said. “We’re not just opening cans.”

The ladies brainstormed for other soups, which will include chicken and rice, and a soup with white and pintos beans and pork.

Flyers were distributed to students at Naples Elementary for the debut of Soups On last Friday. The first week, 10 attended.

“We will have a flyer at the (Naples) store and just word of mouth,” Sanders said. “We’re going to do it for four to six weeks and see if we get any response. Hopefully we can get it going and keep it going.”

Anyone wishing to donate items can call Napier at 267-3139 or Sanders at 267-1417.