Thanks to its "souper" efforts, the congregation at Salem United Church of Christ in Rohrerstown has made an impact on food banks throughout the county. The church held its annual Souper Bowl event throughout the month of January. Congregants were encouraged to donate cans of soup or money to purchase soup, said Mark Wanner, who helped with the event.

"I took the monetary donations from our congregation and worked with the Centerville Giant Food Store to purchase Campbell's soup at a discounted price," he explained. "The Giant Food Store is always very willing to work with us and to help our soup drive."

This year, the church donated 2,314 cans, an all-time high for the collection. "Of that, we were able to purchase (a total of) 88 cases of chicken noodle soup, tomato soup, cream of mushroom soup and cream of chicken soup," Wanner noted.

Soup was donated to the Hempfield Area Food Pantry at Zion Lutheran Church in Salunga, the Columbia Food Bank at St. Paul's Episcopal Church in Columbia and the Lancaster County Food Hub in Lancaster.

"We always have a grocery shopping cart at the church, and we collect food year-round and then somebody takes it to the food pantry at Zion Lutheran Church, but this time, since we had so much soup, they were not able to take all of it," Wanner stated. "We had connections at the other food banks, and they were very appreciative of the donation. Especially at this time of year, when it's cold, people love soup."

Wanner emphasized that Salem United Church of Christ is not a large church, but that a small group can make a big impact. "Before COVID, we were getting about 50 people on any Sunday," he said. "We have very good people in our congregation, and when you ask for something, they come through."

In addition to the Souper Bowl, the church conducts monthly mission outreach projects to support a variety of local organizations. The first year the church held its Souper Bowl, in 2010, the congregation collected 224 cans of soup. To see that number increase dramatically over the years is not a surprise to Wanner, who added, "Our congregation always rises to the occasion."