Hot Meals That Go Beyond AUP
AUP Gives Back kicked off this week with its first event being the La Chorba soup drive. The soup drive is the first event every year and invites the outside organization, La Chorba, to set up kitchen inside the Amex from 12h00 to 15h00. However, this year, similar to last years record breaking numbers, they had sold out of soup by 14h30. Joelle Gewolb went on record to say that they had raised close to 670 euros all of which would be going to the organization to help continue their mission.
What is La Chorba?
Their first and foremost mission has always been to fight against hunger and social exclusion. They provide a sustainable source of food for those that may not have anywhere else to turn. Within the soup kitchen structure, there are programs which are intended to offer a person an opportunity to pull themselves up. Soup drives are far from the only thing they do, they offer home delivered food packages, partnerships with local bakeries, all as part of their six action initiative. Volunteering ventures or employee integration contracts are a strong part of their mission as well, they allow the those within the soup kitchen community to build a repertoire of working experience and create a bond between themselves and their community.
Another part of the La Chorba Association is that they pride themselves on the idea that each person should be able to live with dignity. Their food distribution is unconditional. Whether they are documented or undocumented, whatever their story is, they believe each person should be able to provide the most basic needs for themselves: food and health.
An example of their "colis à domicile" package. Image Credit: La Chorba
The association is based out of a room located at 7-15 Avenue de la Villette in the 19th arrondissement via metro line 7 station, Porte de La Villette. Hot meals are distributed every day between the hours of 18h00 and 20h00 EXCEPT on Thursdays. They also shut down for an annual closing from August 1 through September 11. Micheal is 24 years old and works in Paris as a chef. His mother worked at La Chorba, however, Micheal only volunteers for events similar to those that occurred at the AUP Amex. When I asked him about what makes La Chorba special he responded...
"Because it brings people together. If people are sad, if people are lost, if people have nowhere else to go they can turn to La Chorba. Having soup and making soup brings people together, there is something special about it that just makes people happy!"
As for AUP Undergraduate Vice President Jasmine, seemed to be flustered by the number of students and staff in search of a hot meal. I tracked her down for a second and asked how it was all going, she responded, "It's going well so far! I don’t have the numbers tallied but what we did again this year is the delivery service where we offered to professors and staff and faculty if they wanted it delivered they could email us ahead and we would deliver, so that went well." As previously stated, Joelle Gewolb disclosed they had raised close to 670 euros to give back to La Chorba.
If you would like to volunteer at La Chorba yourself you can find all the information or if you don’t think you have the time you can simply donate or at their homepage.
Follow AUP Gives Back week to find other ways you can give back to your Paris community.
