Detriot Soup Inspires Preston Soup Feb 24th 2016

Jan, 28 2016

~Wouldn’t it be good if a collective group of ambitious, career setting people met together and could pitch their idea, almost in a ‘Dragons Den’ type scenario. Thanks to the brainchild of American creative thinkers, such a group has been established, although they are far more friendlier than the Dragons found on the hit BBC show. The bonus? A mere sum of $5 attendees receive a heart warming bowl of soup, salad and bread.

Since February 2010, ‘Detroit Soup’ has been established. In it’s early days there was no presentation just discussion took place. In April of that year a winner was announced (a Rust Belt Architecture photo book) and started getting traction: proposals started coming in, community members started to gather, interact, share a meal and build relationships.

So how does this unique group work?  Over good food and drink attendees have the opportunity to vote after hearing from four presentations this could be from the realms of  art, urban agriculture, social justice, social entrepreneurs, education, technology and more.

Each presenter then has a mere four minutes to pitch their concept and answer four questions from the respective audience. Once the four candidates have said their piece association is enjoyed and the voting takes places in relation to whom the audience regard as the most deserved winner out of all the applicants.

When the evening is concluded, the ballots are counted, the winner is announced and the winner then goes home with all of the money raised to carry out their project. In the future the winner will be welcomed back to report on the  progress of  their winning idea.

Since 2010, Detroit Soup has grown phenomenally. There are now on average 200 people at every billed evening and they are now in a permanent residence at the Jam Handy Building on East Grand Boulevard. In addition, since 2013 ‘Neighbourhood Soups’ began to help residents start and sustain neighbourhood-specific dinners.

Now it is set to create a similar buzz and excitement with new and exciting entrepreneurs in the UK. There are currently 30 groups running and starting up in Britain and with UCLAN on board,  those groups could increase monthly, if not weekly. 

On Wednesday 24th February 2016, Preston will host it’s very first ‘Preston Soup’. Singing  from the same song sheet as Detroit this will be in the UCLAN shop called ‘In the City’ on Lune Street which is next to Fox Street in the Preston city centre.

What Preston Soup would like to do is summarised in seven simple statements :-

* Empower residents
 *Help create jobs
 *Allow people to establish new relationships and networks
* Promote action and change
 *Foster critical dialogue
 * Instill neighborhood pride
 *Provide a deeper understanding of democracy.

SOUP is not judgemental or interrogating. It’s a relaxed atmosphere where people can collectively come together, build bridges in communities, share stories and strengthen ones faith and belief in their project as they endeavour to carry out their achievements.

Here is a final fact about SOUP that will create momentum upon it’s launch in Preston,

In SOUP’s 100+ dinners our diners have helped fund 45 projects, 39 nonprofits, and 25 for-profit enterprises. At least 31 of these projects would not have moved forward with their initiatives if it wasn’t for SOUP.

Please come along on February 24th 2016 and see for yourselves the powerful impact of ‘Preston Soup’.