The success behind the Salvation Army's Soup Bike

Offering soup to homeless people and others from the trunk of a car. A good plan, right? This initiative - also called the Soup Bus - originated in 2012 and was an idea of the Salvation Army. The Soup Bus then really took wings in 2016 when it participated in MO040 dinner and enlisted the help of the business community. And so it did!

Together for Eindhoven went looking for regular soup shoveling volunteers from the business community and soup suppliers, including many Eindhoven hotels. A true soup delivery schedule soon emerged, and because of the great enthusiasm, each supplier only had to provide soup about once a month.

In the corona era, logically, fewer and fewer people came to get soup. The situation called for a different approach. Reason enough to start driving around with the soup instead of offering it in one place. The bus was exchanged for an electric bicycle, the route was mapped out and the volunteer pool of soup shovelers was replenished. The route starts from the Domus House near the Salvation Army office and cycles past the Effenaar, TU/e grounds, Woenselse Markt, Victoriapark, Anne Frankplantsoen and other places in Eindhoven.

And it didn't just stop at soup, now sandwiches are being made. Sponsored by local bread and meat suppliers and greased by a Salvation Army resident.

Fleur Besters (volunteer soup bike)

"When in your own city you see people looking for food in the garbage bins and people spending the night in the parks in dome tents, you can't look away. So when I was made aware of the Soup Bike, I didn't hesitate for a moment. For over a year now, my husband Joep and I have been biking around town on a monthly basis. A drop in the ocean, but the conversations with our fellow townspeople are very valuable and the difference between having nothing and something to eat is enormous. The encounters are poignant too, and it still gives one helplessness that the difference between have's and have not's is so small. Those few hours of volunteering are a small effort for us, it enriches ourselves and makes our world a little bigger again. Also not unimportant: everything is perfectly arranged from Salvation Army."

MO040

The Corporate Social Responsibility 040 dinner (MO040) is offered by DLL, NXP, Philips and the Municipality of Eindhoven in cooperation with Samen voor Eindhoven. MO040 is for companies and social organizations that want to make a difference in the Eindhoven region.