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November 5th Knox SOUP Dinner

What a night for Knox SOUP!

We had a perfectly wonderful evening hearing from four outstanding projects, each with a unique vision for making our community a little better.

The presentations were all so compelling that one comment kept coming up around the room: “I wish we had four votes instead of just one!” Choosing a People’s Choice winner was no easy task!

After a very close vote, Christian Blessing House took the top spot, receiving $580 in door donations to support its Helping Hands project. And the good news? Every presenter went home with prize money to help move their ideas forward!

Congratulateions also to our other outstanding presenters:

  • Home Instead Knoxville - Be a Santa to a Senior
  • Knoxville Black Community & Power (Deaf Community Organization) - Juneteenth: Celebrating Freedom, Culture & Community
  • Vintage to Visionary: Celebrating 50 Years of Service to the Deaf Community - Knoxville Center of the Deaf Gala Committee

A huge THANK YOU to everyone who came out, shared a meal, listened, voted, and supported these projects. Special thanks to Alan Williams, long-time SOUP supporter and MC Extraordinaire and Knoxville First Presbyterian Church for welcoming us into their beautiful space; to the local businesses and individuals who generously donated food and fabulous raffle items; and to our volunteers who make these dinners possible. From planning and gathering donations to setting up, serving, and cleaning up, we couldn't do it without you!

That's what community is all about—showing up, sharing ideas, and helping good things happen. Thank you for being part of it!

Read more about this project and learn about other proposals presented

THANKS to our November 5th Dinner Supporters!

A huge THANKS to all our sponsors and those who contributed to help make our SOUP dinners a success. We especially appreciate Knoxville First Presbyterian Church for providing the beautiful dinner location, our food donors for the wonderful food, and volunteers for their service!

Thanks to Carol LaCava, Megan Potts, and Emilia Klinzing for providing sign language interpreting services for tonight's dinner! We were especially excited that, for the first time, Deaf presenters took the Knox SOUP stage to share their ideas, their projects, and their vision for our community. Having Carol, Megan, and Emilia here helped make those presentations accessible and allowed all of us to connect with the presenters and their ideas

And special thanks our emcee extraordinaire, Alan Williams.

Please help us thank our supporters with YOUR support of their business!

Raffle Items

  • 71 South
  • AMBC
  • Ashe's Wines & Spirits
  • Averra Media
  • Baxter Properties
  • Bear Paw Bikes
  • Bistro by the Bijou
  • Bliss & Tori Mason Shoes
  • Bobbye Edwards
  • Borderland Tees
  • Brandon Huckaby
  • Brandy Jenkins
  • Climbing Roots
  • CommonPlace
  • Cruze Farm
  • Hi-Wire
  • Highland Design
  • Home Instead
  • Karyn Adams
  • Knoxville Coffee Company
  • Legacy Parks
  • Mayor Kincannon
  • Nostalgia
  • Nothing Too Fancy
  • Old Sevier Market
  • PAWZ Dog Services
  • Printshop Beer
  • River Dog Bakery
  • Round-up Restaurant
  • Scruffy City
  • SoKno Sourdough
  • South Coast Pizza
  • South High Senior Living
  • Southern Breeze Heating and Cooling
  • Stanley's Greenhouse
  • Tarik's North African
  • Tea & Treasures
  • Terri LeSueur

Food Contributions

  • Three Rivers Market
  • Chef Mo’s Cafe & Catering
  • Ham'N Goodys
  • Nauti K's Riverside Bar & Grill
  • Rebecca Beall
  • Redbud Kitchen
  • Round Up Restaurant
  • South Coast Pizza

Volunteers

  • Andrew Wunderlich
  • Ashley Mahs
  • Barry Neal
  • Betsy Pickle
  • Danny Gray
  • Debbie Mallard
  • Eric Johnson
  • Erin Kelbly
  • Janet Brown
  • Janice Tocher
  • Jeanne Fair
  • Julianna Tullos
  • Lisa Horn
  • MaryAnne Rogers
  • Nancy Campbell
  • Rebecca Beall
  • Rene Skelton
  • Terri LeSueur
  • Theresa Mince
  • Walt Montgomery

About Knox SOUP

Knox SOUP - Supporting Outstanding Unique Projects - is a community-powered dinner where local people pitch ideas that can make Knox County stronger, more connected, and more vibrant. Guests share a meal, hear the presentations, and vote for the project they would most like to see funded. The project receiving the most votes takes home the money raised at the door to help bring the idea to life.

SOUP has been described as:

  • a collaborative situation
  • a public dinner
  • a platform for connection
  • a relational hub bringing together communities
  • a forum for discussion
  • an opportunity to support creative people in pursuit of the betterment of their community

Get inspired! Watch a 2 minute video of a SOUP dinner in progress.


Like the Knox SOUP Facebook Page to keep up with the latest information about SOUP dinners.


How it works: We will open the doors at 5:30 pm, collecting a suggested $5.00 donation from attendees. At 6:00, 4 preselected individuals or groups will present an idea or project they would like to carry out. Each presenter (or group) has 4 minutes to inform, impassion and inspire the audience. They then have 4 minutes to answer questions from the audience. Dinner is then served while attendees digest, discuss and deliberate over the projects presented. They then cast a ballot for the project they would like most to fund.

When the evening nears a close, the ballots are counted and the group that has the most votes takes home the money from the door to help fund their project. Democracy meets Charity…

Proposals can be for anything that will benefit the community or society in general. Past winning projects have improved greenways and nature trails, provided exercise equipment for seniors, funded back to school drives, supported other charitable endeavors and even launched a small business with a social focus. There are no hard and fast rules to what a proposal should be, only that someone envisions it, asks for it and the diners vote for it.

Winners are asked to return to a subsequent dinner and share with us the success of their project. Dinners will also feature an artist each month.

After presentations, diners will have about an hour to eat, share and connect with others while voting for the project they like best. By about 7:45, the votes will be tallied and the winning project will be awarded all donations raised at the door. NOTE: a suggested donation of $5 will be collected at the door. All money raised at the door goes to the winning proposal.

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