THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, January 28, 1996 TAG: 9601260237
SECTION: CHESAPEAKE CLIPPER PAGE: 04 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY BETSY MATHEWS WRIGHT, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 81 lines
To most Americans, ``Super Sunday'' means football. To Adam and Amy Cohen, it means feeding the poor and homeless.
The 11-year-old brother and 8-year-old sister have spent the last three weekends rounding their neighborhood, collecting canned goods for the needy. Their efforts are part of a nationwide charity event called ``Souper Sunday,'' a play-on-words of Super - as in Bowl - Sunday.
Adam, a fifth grader at Southeastern Elementary, and Amy, a third grader at the same school, are the children of Dana Cohen of Virginia Beach and Paul Cohen of Chesapeake. The children and their mother attend Unity Renaissance Church in the Greenbrier section of Chesapeake. On January 14, the siblings got a flyer at Sunday School asking them to bring in either $1 or a can of soup for Souper Sunday. The collection would go to the Southeastern Virginia Foodbank.
When Adam and Amy got home from church, the two decided to forego their regular round of video games, opting instead to collect canned goods.
``First thing I know,'' said their mom, ``they're grabbing a handful of plastic grocery bags, saying `We're going collecting,' . . . Then they came back with those bags full, and grabbed more empty bags.''
Both the children said they were surprised to collect 173 cans in two days.
``I really thought I'd collect only about 10,'' Adam said.
``People were just so generous,'' Dana said. ``I went with them on one trip and was so amazed at how nice people were. The generosity motivated my children to collect even more!''
By Monday afternoon, the children had to use a wagon to collect. That same day, their mother called Beth Gomia, the church administrator, asking if she could come to the church to unload the can-filled trunk of her car.
``This thing became a mission to them,'' said Dana. ``I know they are my kids, but they are just really special. Both of them are very sensitive to people who have less than we do. I'm real proud of them.
``It feels good, too, to be able to give something back to my church, because it's a wonderful place and it gives so much to the children and I.''
Beth Gomia and her husband David, the church's director of youth education, spotted the idea for Souper Sunday in the December 17, 1995 ``Dear Abby'' column in The Virginian-Pilot. The column told how a Columbia, S.C. minister, the Rev. Brad Smith, began Souper Sunday in 1990. Teen members of his congregation collected donations in soup kettles. The youth also got 22 other area congregations to take up special collections.
Since then, the Souper Sunday idea has boomed. According to the ``Dear Abby'' column, the 1995 event involved 2,500 churches, synagogues, schools and businesses in 49 states, raising $450,000 for area soup kitchens and food banks.
Beth Gomia said she and her husband thought the idea was a ``neat way for everybody to participate'' in a mission project. They handed out flyers about the program and David Gomia excited the children and youth by promising to build a pyramid of the collected cans in the church narthex on Super Bowl Sunday.
It was, however, the faithfulness of Adam and Amy Cohen that energized the congregation.
``Last Sunday I reminded everyone about the project,'' Beth said, ``and then I told about Adam and Amy. Everyone cheered and we gave them a big round of applause. Now everyone is getting into it. Some of the Sunday School classes are even having friendly competitions to see who can collect the most.''
Though Adam admits he was ``embarrassed when they clapped,'' he vows he'll collect again next year. Sister Amy says she'll help, too. ILLUSTRATION: Photo by GARY C. KNAPP
Courtney Gomia, left, looks over some of the canned goods that Adam
Cohen and Amy Cohen collected for the Southeastern Virginia
Foodbank.
WANT TO HELP?
If you would like to donate money or canned goods for the Souper
Sunday project, contact Beth Gomia or the Rev. Judi Meyer, at Unity
Renaissance Church, 1120 N. Eden Way, 420-5280. The church will be
open for food drop-offs on Monday, January 29, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
by CNB