The name and the concept are simple. Soup Sunday.
"It's exactly what it says it is," says Ryan Davis with a chuckle. "It's soup and it's on a Sunday."
But it's not just any soup. This is pots full of the tastiest minestrones, chilis and bisques in Little Rock, all under one roof.
This is the 38th year that Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families has hosted the annual ladle-filled evening of creamy, brothy, smooth and chunky goodness. Davis is a member of the AAFC board of directors.
Dozens of restaurants and caterers from around the area serve up tasting cups of their best soups to eager diners while local bakeries supply bread and desserts. This year's lineup includes 42 Bar and Table, Capitol Bistro, Dave's Place, Local Lime, SO, Table 28, The Faded Rose and The Root Cafe. Blue Bell Ice Cream, Honey Pies, Loblolly Creamery and Nothing Bundt Cakes will bring the desserts.
Every attendee gets a four-cup cup holder to make things easier but Davis advises, "there are lots and lots of soups and lots and lots of people. I would suggest if you can find a six, eight or 12 muffin tin, maybe bring that also."
If the main room soups were not enough, there's also the Patron Room, where guests who purchased special tickets can enjoy exclusive soup and goodies from Ciao Baci.
In addition to the plethora of soups and sides, there are live and silent auctions, which Davis says will include a number of attractive goodies and some vacation opportunities. Davis, his wife and a group of friends bid and won a vacation in Costa Rica a few years ago.
"That was one of the best experiences I've ever had, vacation-wise."
The money raised all goes to the AACF, an advocacy organization that works at the municipal, state and national level on behalf of Arkansas children.
That means research, advising on policies and lobbying for legislation that affects the health, education and over-all well-being of children.
It's a nonpartisan effort, crossing increasingly fraught political lines for what they see as the common good.
Davis points to AACF's work in spearheading the start of ARKids First, the state-run health insurance program for children that began under Republican Gov. Mike Huckabee and a majority-Democratic state Legislature.
"Both [sides], through the effort of AACF and the efforts of other individuals, saw the necessity for children to be healthy. They understand intrinsically that if we don't have healthy children, we don't have a healthy future as a state. In the same way, if we don't have properly funded educational programs, if we don't have properly funded out-of-school opportunities, then we are gambling away our future."
Davis is the director of University of Arkansas at Little Rock Children International, a nonprofit organization that works with children and teens to break the cycle of poverty through a variety of special programs. Davis says they've found AACF an invaluable source of help and information that keeps their organization running.
"We do health education and empowerment programs for children and youth in central Arkansas and we know that to be effective, our programs have to be based in reality and in research. They lay out some very comprehensive research that allows us to say that these should be our health programs because we have a snapshot of what children are dealing with in our area."
Davis has been on the AACF board since last year and first got involved by attending the AACF's small group discussions on health policy.
"The position papers [they write] are not light reading for casual consumption," he says. "These [discussions], they kind of break some of those things down to the common denominator."
It's important for AACF's work to continue, he says, to "make plain what can sometimes seem to be a really complicated agenda. And to continue to say, in the best, most nonpartisan way, that we do have a common interest. For the folks at AACF, the permanent interest that we have, no matter what our political persuasion, no matter what we call ourselves, we have a common concern, which is the heritage of our state. And the greatest heritage is the children."
And children are welcome at Soup Sunday. Davis assures worried parents that the combination of crowds, energetic kids and lots of cups of spillable liquids shouldn't keep them away.
"I have taken two toddlers there at the same time on one occasion, which is a feat unto itself!"
Soup Sunday is 4-7 p.m. Feb. 24 at the Statehouse Convention Center, Little Rock. Tickets are $35 in advance, $40 at the door, $10 for children 5-17. Patron tickets with Patron Room access are $60. Call (501) or visit aradvocates.org.
High Profile on 02/17/2019