In March of 2015, Melbourne's the Soup Place launched a new initiative.
For a subsidized cost, this restaurant would enable their paying customers to buy soups for the homeless. While normally a bowl of their soup costs $7.50, for just an extra $3.50, patrons could gift soup to those in need.
Each subsidized soup purchased would transform into a sticky note, complete with an uplifting message, that a homeless community member could then pluck from the restaurant's wall and trade in for a warm meal whenever they chose.
George Paraskevopoulos, the Soup Place's co-owner, didn't require folks in need to prove their homelessness in any way, but rather relied on the honor system to keep this project rolling along.
He told LittleThings, "The greatest lesson I’ve learned through all this is that there are a lot of people out there who are willing to help."
Since launching this campaign, the Soup Place has already served 6,000 subsidized bowls of soup, and that number keeps rising daily.
Scroll through our gallery to learn more about how this restaurant took responsibility for feeding its community's homeless population, and inspired countless others to join their cause.
[H/T: ABC]
Last year, the Soup Place in Melbourne introduced an inspired new project to better their surrounding community.
They offered their paying customers chances to gift homeless folks bowls of the same sized soups they were buying themselves, for less.
While a bowl of the Soup Place's soups typically cost $7.50, customers had the chance to buy another, identically sized bowl of soup for just $3.50 as a gift to someone in need.
If purchased, this subsidized soup would become a sticky note, upon which the customer could write a message of their choosing to the future patron they helped feed.
Homeless members of the community were then invited to pull a sticky from the wall as needed, and trade it in for a warm soup of their choosing.
George Paraskevopoulos, co-owner of the Soup Place, launched this project after seeing an NYC pizza restaurant offer its patrons a similar opportunity.
He told LittleThings, "I felt there wasn’t a platform out there where people could get involved and help by paying it forward."
Since launching, this Pay It Forward initiative has gifted 6,000 meals to the homeless — a figure that continues growing each day.
At this point, the restaurant has enough sticky notes on its walls to feed its homeless regulars for at least six months.
Paraskevopoulos told ABC, "We're really just a platform, the generosity comes from the public."
He continued, explaining: "The whole concept of paying it forward is so powerful that every day it teaches me something different.
“It’s like a tree… It goes backwards, sideways, front. It just goes in so many directions.
“It’s good for the soul.”
Furthermore, the Soup Place does not make any attempt to verify its homeless diners' homelessness before handing them bowls of soup.
Paraskevopoulos told ABC: "We didn't want to do any screening.
“It’s a trust system. They get to eat like we do, when they’re hungry, from seven in the morning until seven in the evening.”
What started as a simple project has since spiraled into a community-changing effort — making helping each other easy, inspiring, and fun.
Paraskevopoulos told LittleThings, "We feed people seven days a week, from seven in the morning till seven at night, and the concept of 'Paying it Forward' is so powerful that it has a domino effect in all directions.
"We have just recently commenced a relationship with the big umbrella group that feeds homeless people on Flinders Street through their mobile facilities, and are preparing/cooking to their needs."
The Soup Place is changing people's lives, one sticky note and soup at a time.
This soup restaurant found a way to help its patrons pay it forward — nourishing its community members' bellies and souls, no matter what their means might be.
What do you think of this restaurant's project? Have you ever lent your time to helping the homeless? Tell us about your experience in the comments below.
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