The Moms on the Move Show

Paula Sunshine

Website(s):

http://www.souparama.com
 

Paula Sunshine on the right.

Paula: I was really trying to think of a way that I could get my friends and people in my community excited about cooking soup.

Paula Sunshine came up with an event to feed families in need that has taken off like wildfire.   It’s called Jewish Mama Soup-A-Rama.  Last year they made 350 pints of soup. This year they made their goal of 10,000.

Paula: 10,000 pints of soup for elderly people. Isn't it amazing?

Linda:  Where did you get the idea for it?

Paula: I was really lookin for a way to make soup for people who are homebound.    Jewish Momma Souparama popped into my head one day.

Paula: The recipe that we're making today is a recipe that we got from a Girl Scout troop
in order to make it fun, we thought well we're going to have a Contest to see who can make the best soup in Philadelphia. 

Shelly:  We sent out letters and made phone calls to all the synagogues and organizations.

In fact, 30 organization and hundreds of volunteers participated in the City Wide taste off.

Linda:  What does the winner get for this?

Shelly:  The winner gets the Golden Ladle award.

Paula:  A bunch of  us getting together and cooking soup and we made it in big pots put them in individual pint containers and the pint containers are frozen and then delivered to people who are recipients of cook for a friend meals.  Cook for a friend is a local volunteer organization that cooks and delivers Kosher Meals to homebound elderly.

Linda:  What does keeping kosher mean?

Paula: Keeping Kosher is a set of dietary rules.  You don't mix milk and meat products.  You can’t serve them on the same plates.  You would never use any of the knives that we're using now to cut cheese.

Linda:  I see.

Paula:  Milk represents the giving the life, meat represents the taking of life and they should always be separate and it just is about consciousness.

Paula: (to kids) Get out of bed breakfast is almost ready.

Paula:  It reminds you to be mindful all day long of every decision you make

Paula and her husband, made a conscious decision to engage their children in community service early on.

Paula:  Everything ….hundred meals.  From the time they were toddlers they were cooking meals for cook for a friends.  

And from the time they were toddlers Paula managed her career as Senior Vice President of a Bank, her family of 5 and their community service.

Paula:   I left the house at 5:30 in the morning got home at 7:00 at night 5 days a week and we always sat down to dinner together.  It's just a matter of being organized.  On Sunday nights one kid was always in charge of lunches. You had to make 15 lunches.  Menu was all set for the week on Sunday.

Paula: The hardest part about making dinner is the decision of what to make.

Paula also organized her family trips to build homes for other needy families overseas in Vietnam and Cuba.

Paula:  Each of us had to bring 15 lbs of relief supplies. 

Linda:  You’re actually raising citizens of the world.

Paula:    That’s right.  Let them really see how lucky we are in this country. 

Paula: (Showing award) Last surviving memento of my corporate life.  I retired about a month ago I hope I will be able to do more things like Jewish Mamma Soup-A-Rama.

Linda:  I can't wait to see what you do next year.

Paula:   Exactly right. I think that’s what people are afraid of.

Paula:  If I could do it anybody could do it.

Linda to Ladies:  Guess I'll leave you guys for the clean up now!  (laugh)

Paula:  It's really about being passionate about something and about believing in something and about having a lot of energy around it and about having fun.

Bunny: And it's great for our kids to see.

Paula:  Believing if you just take one little step it's amazing what happens.

             

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