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Stone Soup Luncheon assists those in dire need

By Shannon Quesnel For the second year in a row, Sudbury's annual Stone Soup Luncheon will be offering soup and song to help generate funds for those in dire need.
By Shannon Quesnel

For the second year in a row, Sudbury's annual Stone Soup Luncheon will be offering soup and song to help generate funds for those in dire need.

Thursday's luncheon will be hosted by the Caruso Club and the Social Planning Council of Sudbury's Office of Emergency Response.

The event will feature homemade vegetable soup, dessert and the sounds of local singer/composer Kevin Closs, who will be performing his own musical rendition of the stone soup legend.

Legend tells the story of a hungry old woman who convinces the people of her town to add vegetables to her soup of water and stones so her soup will taste better.

Thursday's soup will skip the stones, but will be filled with hearty vegetables and is prepared by volunteers from Cambrian College's food preparation program with after-soup desserts donated from Costco.

Other donators to the event include Dumas' Your Independent Grocer, Bellevue Quality Meats, Smith's Markets and Crocodile Press and Multimedia.

Last year the event raised about $8,000 to help people in desperate need.

This year's goal is to raise $15,000, according to emergency response co-ordinator Christine Mick.

All of the money raised will go to the Office of Emergency Response, an organization that helps people in dire need, where their very survival is at stake, says Mick.

Not one dollar goes towards administrative costs or fees.

In order for a person to receive this financial aid, however, all other avenues of aid have to be exhausted, she explains.

"Everything has to be accessed before people can come to us."

If someone needed food or shelter, that person should first contact a human service agency, like the Red Cross, Employment Insurance or Ontario Works, says Mick.

The amount of funds available within the Emergency Response Office is very limited and is directed only to people in dire survival need and who have exhausted every other resource and have nowhere else to turn, said Mick.

"This is the place of last resort that people can turn to," she says.

Last year, the Emergency Response Office helped out 40 families and children and this year they hope to help more, she said.

"This fund has literally saved lives," she says.

For example, the office was able to avert homelessness where young children were involved and keep furnaces running on some of the coldest days of the year, she said.

Front-line social workers employed by the City of Greater Sudbury can apply to the fund on behalf of their clients, but must again ensure clients have exhausted every other resource, she says.

The cost of the luncheon is $20 per person and tickets may be reserved by calling the Social Planning Council at 705-675-3894.

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