Joe Burrow Foundation and La Soupe Tackling Food Insecurity
“Do good.”
That’s the message the Joe Burrow Foundation is continuing to send out in providing resources to the underprivileged and underserved in the community. Providing two application periods per year, the Joe Burrow Foundation offers Do Good Grants to nonprofits and charities that support the JBF mission to develop and sustain new approaches to mental health and food insecurity.
With economic uncertainty and food insecurity levels increasing across Ohio, tackling food insecurity has become a major force behind the partnership the Joe Burrow Foundation has formed with La Soupe.
Based in Cincinnati, La Soupe is a venture dedicated to rescuing and repurposing excess food to feed those experiencing food insecurity. Bridging the gap between food waste and food insecurity in the Greater Cincinnati area has been the mission of La Soupe since its beginnings in 2015. Now, with the help of the Joe Burrow Foundation, La Soupe is expanding its reach far beyond Southwest Ohio and giving back to Joe Burrow’s hometown of Athens, Ohio, and beyond.
The Joe Burrow Foundation donated $200,000 to La Soupe, helping the organization with resources to provide and deliver more than 120,000 servings of food to communities in need by December 2024.
Food Insecurity: Rescue, Transform, Share
Taking on food insecurity for both the Joe Burrow Foundation and La Soupe means diving into minimizing waste and extending product life where possible. When Suzy DeYoung sold her part of the family bistro to launch La Soupe in 2015, rescuing and repurposing food excess or waste became a primary focus, as more than 40% of all food produced annually worldwide is lost or wasted. Why not repurpose this food and give back to the communities that need it most?
By teaming up with local grocers and farmers, La Soupe transforms food excess into delicious soups, meals, sides, or salads. These meals are then delivered to other organizations or communities for dispersal.
The rescue, transform, and share model has been successful for La Soupe, boasting huge returns for the organization’s outreach in the last few months alone. Between December 2023 and February 2024 alone, La Soupe has shared 17,000 servings and 2,500 pounds with the Athens and Gallia school districts.
La Soupe recently expanded its reach to other school districts including Gallia schools, donating more than 1,500 pounds of food and providing more than 6,300 servings of transformed food to Athens and Gallia Schools in February alone.
Using Athens Middle School as the “central hub” for distribution, shipments have become more manageable as freezer funding and availability have helped extend the shelf life of some of the donation items, while also maintaining plenty of space for dry goods and other staple pantry items.
Continuing the JBF And La Soupe Partnership
Tackling food poverty in both Joe Burrow’s hometown of Athens and his current home in Cincinnati has been an important mission for the Joe Burrow Foundation from its inception. Most recently, JBF teamed up with La Soupe on March 3rd as part of Guinness Gives Back. The Joe Burrow Foundation was presented with a $500,000 donation from the service event to continue its work in the community.
For both JBF and La Soupe, maintaining this partnership and model long-term is a big focus continuing into 2024.
Acting as a liaison to districts and communities that have the greatest need, JBF has been able to provide grant funds as well as a van for meal deliveries to Athens Middle School weekly. Thanks to the grant funds from JBF, it is expected that La Soupe’s efforts will include districts beyond Athens and Gallia schools to include underprivileged communities in Trimble and Adams Counties in 2024 as well.
This year, La Soupe has been able to focus on replicating its efforts and sharing the rescue, transform, and share model with other organizations across Ohio and the United States. With the help of JBF, La Soupe has been able to focus on building relationships in the Athens area in hopes of helping Athens champion their own food waste and food insecurity model through 2024 and beyond.