Souper bowl

One-of-a-kind parade of soups supports Tillamook nonprofit

By Jordan Wolfe

For the TODAY

What’s the opposite of the iconic Seinfeld line: “No soup for you”? An annual event in Tillamook might just have the answer.

Tides of Change will hold its 16th Annual Soup Bowl fund-raiser event this Saturday, Oct. 24, at Pacific Restaurant. A parade of soups will be paired with truly one-of-a-kind souvenirs: artisan bowls fired to 2,500 degrees in something called a dragon kiln.

“It's really a community gathering to be able to come together and have a great meal, and know you're coming together for a specific reason,” said Tides of Change Executive Director Valerie Bundy.

And that reason is to support survivors.

Tides of Change is a community-based nonprofit that serves survivors of domestic and sexual violence throughout Tillamook County. The group also staffs a crisis line 24/7 that serves anybody in need of support.

“It's an array of things that we provide: anywhere from safety planning to counseling, support groups, shelter, long-term advocacy, support going through the courts and things like that,” Bundy said, “We try to say, ‘yes’ to as much as we can.”

Proceeds from the event provide what Bundy described as unrestricted money. She said much of the funds they receive are directly from the government or are awarded in the form of grants.

“But those are really restrictive and have a lot of rules of what you can do,” she said. “And also, lately, are leaving a lot of gaps in what our needs are.”

The event has tiered ticket pricing: $30 for dinner and $50 for dinner and a bowl — and the bowls might well be worth the price of admission alone.

Guests will choose from specially crafted bowls donated by a group of potters in Clatsop County led by potter, ceramicist and teacher Richard Rowland, who has been donating bowls since the event’s inception. 

“The potters are so generous because it's not just that they are donating some bowls. They're creating the bowls. They're firing them in the kiln. They're getting the wood to be able to fire the kiln,” said Bundy, who added that firing the anagama is an incredible process: every 15 minutes the group puts wood in the kiln from three different spots during the firing to maintain a steady temperature of roughly 2,500 degrees.

“If I say, ‘You guys are doing so much for us,’ their answer is, ‘But you're doing so much for the survivors.’ So that's their way to help us do what we do: using their strengths and what they enjoy doing.”

Other people flexing their strengths will do so in the kitchen by creating the 18 different soups — along with various bread and desserts — all donated from restaurants and special guest cooks in Tillamook County.

“We'll have a sort of taste from all over Tillamook County available that night for people to eat as much as they want and do it for a good cause,” Bundy said. “We serve the whole county, so it's really — I think — special to be able to have food that we can highlight from the whole county.”

Of the special contributors, one is from someone close to the nonprofit.

“One of our staff is going to create her chicken pozole verde that she made last year — and it's delicious,” Bundy said. “That’s somebody who's day in, day out doing this work then getting to do something that they enjoy and also share it with everybody else.”

Elected officials on the Tillamook County Board of Commissioners will be contributing to the event as well. Commissioner Paul Fournier is one of this year’s soup contributors and Commissioner Mary Faith Bell, who also serves as Board Chair for Tides of Change, will bake and serve some of her gluten-free desserts for the event.

For Bundy, it’s the number of different people and entities donating time, energy and wares every single year that gives her a boost and shows that the community believes in the mission of Tides of Change.

“Our world has been really challenged and struggling and things have been dark, right?” Bundy said. “This is a way that you can support a tough cause in a way that is still light and fun. We really look for ways that we can look for the light and resilience every day in survivors. And so, this is a fun event that's also supporting something that is real and prevalent and has not lessened at all over the last 16 years that I've been in the field.”

Saturday's event runs from 5 to 7 pm at Pacific Restaurant, located at 205 Main Avenue in Tillamook. For more information, go to tidesofchangenw.org.