VisionSoup shows no signs of slowing down after 12 years

Craig Bakay | Nov 21, 2018

“This is our 12th and it gets busier and busier every year,” said Leslie Reade, who along with Josie Steele, began the VisionSoup tradition in Sydenham more than a decade ago.

The concept is simple enough. You buy a custom made bowl (donated by local potters), fill it with the soup of your choice, and keep the bowl.

“The proceeds go to Christmas baskets,” said Reade, who also runs Sydenham Veterinary Services. “That’s done through South Frontenac Community Services and the Loughborough Emergency Relief Fund.”

The place was packed again this year, as it has been since it started. But things run well.

“We have about 25 volunteers,” Reade said. “Again, it’s friends and family who help out so it runs very smoothly.

“And the County has been very supportive.”

Another interesting aspect of the event has been the variety of soups available. When it first started, there was the more standard fare of chicken noodle, clam chowder and tomato vegetable.

But it’s evolved.

For example, at one given time, the choices were: creamy broccoli, spinach, hamburger, two varieties of spicy thai chicken, roasted cauliflower, fennel and spinach (glutton free & vegan), creamy cheese & cauliflower, chicken corn chowder, asparagus & garlic scapes, potato & onion, squash, tomato basil and carrot-ginger-parsnip.

“There seems to be a lot of ginger this year,” said Reade.