Couple Donate $100K to Annual Capuchin Fundraiser

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 The Capuchin Soup Kitchen will exceed the fundraising goal of its annual Support Our Capuchin Kitchen or SOCK Dinner, thanks to help from its friends in the business and philanthropic community, including from Dan Loepp, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan President and CEO and his wife Amy, who are serving as co-chairs for the event.

“The revenues we generate at the SOCK dinner are critical to the ongoing operation of all our programs,” says  Brother Jerry Smith, executive director of the Capuchin Soup Kitchen.

The 43rd annual SOCK Dinner will be Friday at Cobo Center and is expected to draw 1,000 guests at $250 a plate. The theme for the event, sponsored by Blue Cross, is “You’ve Got a Friend.” That theme is symbolic of the everyday acts of kindness the Soup Kitchen performs with support from those who donate their time, talents and money. It is the organization’s signature fundraising event, one of the largest of its kind in the Detroit metropolitan area. The Soup Kitchen hopes to generate $600,000 through proceeds from the event.

Blue Cross is making a $25,000 corporate donation to the Soup Kitchen while also garnering an additional $110,000 from employees, vendor partners and peer business leaders. The Loepps were so inspired by those donations that they are making a personal contribution of $100,000 to the Soup Kitchen.

Operating almost exclusively on charitable contributions since it opened its doors in 1929, the Soup Kitchen serves more than 2,000 hot meals every day to Detroit residents. Its far-reaching ministry also provides a helping hand for families, children and men and women in need through social services, counseling, educational opportunities, an urban farming initiative, and the On The Rise Bakery program that helps people build new lives after dealing with incarceration or addiction.

Tickets are still available at 313-579-2100 ext 153 or online at cskdetroit.org.