THE second ever Harlow SOUP took place on Thursday 24th May and saw over 100 people in attendance raising over £550 for winners Aspire Support Learn (ASL).
Hosted at Pemberley Academy, the event featured four community projects pitching to win the money collected on the door, which was on a “pay what you feel” basis.

Over 100 community diners attended the evening to find out about new community projects, vote for their favourite and sample the delicious homemade soup.

The winning project was ASL, a community interest company that offers employment opportunities and day care, as well as life skills, for adults with additional needs. ASL’s moving pitch explained that they would use the funds to buy their ownequipment for their own dedicated tearoom. The new space would enable ASL to open up the tearooms to more customers to help sustain the success of the organisation.

The three other pitches were also very well received and included: football equipment for Northbrooks FC to support children and local people, materials to build a garden for the dementia ward and other wards at Princess Alexandra Hospital and funding to buy a defibrillator for Little Acorns pre-school.

Previous winners Streets 2 Homes also attended to both take part and feedback on how the money was spent. Streets 2 Homes had successfully been able modernise and update their toilets using the money raised from the previous event and were happy to support the second Harlow SOUP.

The next Harlow SOUP event will take place on Thursday 30th August, and submissions are now open for new and exciting Harlow-based projects. The only criteria for submission is that the project benefits the town.

For more information or to submit your idea for consideration for the next Harlow SOUP please visit www.harlowsoup.co.uk