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November 5th Knox SOUP Dinner

We are pleased to announce our Fall 2026 dinner will be November 5th at Knoxville First Presbyterian Church in Downtown Knoxville!

Doors open at 5:30 PM and presentations start at 6:00. Mark your calendars and come hear about projects in our community. $5 (suggested donation) gets you Soup, Salad, and a VOTE!

Knoxville First Presbyterian Church is located at 620 State St [ map ]. Parking in the lower lot off Clinch Avenue.

Congratulations to the projects selected to present at the November 5th dinner!

We’re especially excited to welcome presenters from the Deaf community!

Over the years, we’ve had ASL interpreters help make our dinners more accessible. We’re excited to turn that dynamic around with Deaf presenters on the Knox SOUP stage, sharing their stories and project ideas, with ASL interpreters helping us connect with their presentations.

At its heart, Knox SOUP is about bringing people together, sharing ideas, and supporting projects that make our community stronger, more connected, and more vibrant. We’re thrilled to have even more voices and perspectives at the table!

Join us November 5 to hear these ideas and help support outstanding, unique projects in Knox County!

Project #1: Be a Santa to a Senior (Home Instead Knoxville)
Home Instead Be a Santa to a Senior- Brightening the holidays for senior adults in our community.

Project #2: Juneteenth: Celebrating Freedom, Culture & Community (Knoxville Black Community & Power (Deaf Community Organization))
Knoxville Black Community & Power (KBCP) is hosting a Juneteenth celebration. An event that, in its second year, will honor Black history, amplify Black Deaf voices, and bring the Knoxville community together through education, cultural celebration, and meaningful connections.

Project #3: Helping Hands (Christian Blessing House)
Faith- based Rockford Recovery transitional living. To provide a safe healthy living environment for ladies who coming in from treatment we also accept ladies is coming from the most violent relationship relationships.

Project #4: Vintage to Visionary: Celebrating 50 Years of Service to the Deaf Community (Knoxville Center of the Deaf Gala Committee)
Knoxville Center of the Deaf's 50th Anniversary Gala, Vintage to Visionary, will celebrate five decades of Deaf empowerment while inspiring future leadership, strengthening community connections, and supporting continued accessibility and inclusion throughout East Tennessee.

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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