Root Soup

ROOT SOUP

‘Root Soup’ is a seedling initiative that involves people who have learning disabilities and people who are homeless working together to grow and prepare vegetables, make organic soups and bake breads.
It will offer training and employment opportunities for people, in different activities across the food chain i.e. growing, preparing, cooking and catering.
 

Root Soup flows from the ‘Growing Together’ movement. It will be a collaborative venture that includes L’Arche, Open Door and potentially The NOW Project and the Orchardville Society in a pilot social enterprise that involves people who have learning disabilities and others on the margins working together to grow and prepare vegetables to make organic soups.

Our overall vision is that, through partnership and by sharing our resources and our expertise, ‘Root Soup’ will eventually be a dynamic social enterprise that is part of an overall ‘Field to Fork initiative offering training and employment opportunities for people, in different activities across the food chain i.e. growing, preparation and catering.

This enterprise will enhance the relationship between people with disabilities, people who are homeless and the rest of our society and will be a model of the collaboration to which we are committed. To us ‘Root Soup’ is a metaphor for a community that celebrates our diversity and is rooted in our common humanity.

By including those who are currently on the margins we aim to change the social landscape for all people in our society. Disability and homelessness are among the most complex and invisible of issues in our society.

Through ‘Root Soup’ and other collaborative partnerships we want to inspire change in attitudes and behaviour and encourage society to think differently about disability and homelessness. We also want to create a culture that focuses on positive solutions to the scarcity of resources that stem from our current recession.

DEEPENING AND SPREADING OUR ROOTS  - Dec 2010: Where to from here
“From small seeds grow big Oak Trees and from tiny tendrils grow deep roots”.
We will be starting small and cooking softly and slowly.

Just like every other aspect of our community life – Root Soup will grow organically, one heart at a time. We intend our soups to be cooked, not only with our great homegrown vegetables, but also with great fun and friendship.
 

Dosh Roots: Get Going …
We intend to seek enough ‘start up’ support from various grant funding agencies who share our concerns and values and also from all of our friends and families so that they too can have a sense of adding to the pot.

Nosh Roots: Get Cooking
From Mid September 2010 we will be cooking soups and baking breads just one day a week initially and growing as our resources grow.  We are not planning to sell the soup for the first year. We will, however be providing ‘tasting and feedback’ opportunities for people through hosting monthly 'Soup Lunches'.

Our guests will be L'Arche supporters, friends, potential growing and selling partner organizations and of course members of our own community and the residents of ‘Open Door’. We will also offer soup to other organizations that give food and shelter to homeless people in need. That way ‘Our Soup Kitchen’ will be a place of nourishment from the very start.

Roots and Shoots – Get talking …
We will let people know that ‘We Are Here’.  We will create a brand that captures the personality and the purpose of our soups and a website to give people a ‘taste’ of the delicious possibility we stand for.  

We will create conversations for new partnerships with other, like-minded, community growers and potential customers, distributers and consumers of ‘Root Soup’.
We will learn to develop and manage the website so that it too grows organically alongside our vegetables and our soups!

Our Current Partners:
•    Open Door Housing Association
•    The Orchardville Sosiety
•    Belfast Health and Social Services Trust.
•    N.I.H.E. Supporting People
Our Current Connections and Potential Partners:
•    Common Grounds Café
•    The Suffolk Community Garden Project
•    GROW
•    The ‘Window in the Wall Garden Project - North Belfast
•    Streamvale Open Farm
•    The NOW project and Loaf.com
•    The 174 Trust
•    The Corrymeela Community
•    TIDES Training
•    Numerous Church Groups
•    Business in the Community
•    The Social Economy Network

And many others…
Our Friends and Supporters; L’Arche is part of a Worldwide Federation of communities and L’Arche Belfast is supported by a huge number of people from across Northern Ireland and beyond who would certainly become a larger part of our communication and customer base in time.