$985.50 was raised by a young girl and her mom who set up a homemade soup shop earlier this summer to raise money for Steinbach Community Outreach. 

Coordinator at the Outreach Drop-In Centre in Steinbach, Myra Gerbrandt, says she was completely surprised when a pink Strawberry Shortcake lunchbox full of money was delivered to her early last week.

The young girl’s mother, Jody Loeppky, notes it was entirely her daughter Dillan’s idea. According to Loeppky, Dillan had made chili for Outreach last year during school and was inspired to do her own thing to help support the non-profit organization. “She has a very big heart and she also has very big ideas, so those two put together made for a very eventful week in our home,” Loeppky says with a smile. Loeppky suggests the support from the community was overwhelming, saying “I went on Instagram and texted family and friends about Dillan’s sale and I had so many responses the day before the sale that we had literally sold out. So we ended up making double what we had originally cooked.”

Dillan mentions that her mom helped her make borscht, cheeseburger soup, and chicken and rice soup which she sold at a small wooden stand outside her aunt's hair salon in Steinbach. Loeppky adds that both of Dillan’s grandpa’s had decided to match her sales, and, after she sold 68 jars of soup, both gave her an additional $250.

A local grocery store also wanted to contribute and offered several cans of Campbell’s soup to Dillan who sold most of them and donated the remainder to Outreach as well.

Based on its astonishing success and the amount of fun both mother and daughter had together, they hope to make it a sort of tradition to have a similar soup sale every fall.