One woman is stepping in to help those who may lose food assistance, “The right thing to do.”
KDKA
By Jessica Riley
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Millvale, Pennsylvania (KDKA) — It’s been four weeks since the federal government shut down, and the impacts are growing. Millions of Americans are on the brink of losing their SNAP benefits, food assistance that many families depend on to put meals on the table.
In Millvale, one woman is stepping in to help fill that gap in a personal way.
Jennifer Ghosh knows what it’s like to go without. During the pandemic, she lost her income, ran out of food, and says she fell through the cracks of the system.
“Unfortunately, I fell through the cracks during COVID,” said Ghosh. “I ran out of money, ran out of food, lost my possessions during the pandemic, and realized sometimes there’s not a lot of help in the ways you think.”
That experience inspired her to start The Praxis Soup Pot, a one-woman mission to fight hunger and support others struggling with food insecurity.
When Ghosh was going through rough times, she learned how to forage to keep herself going. She says her inspiration came from a cookbook that emphasized using simple, seasonal ingredients to make nutritious soups. Although she will be using store-bought and donated items for her soups.
“It uses basic seasonal ingredients to make nutritious soup,” Ghosh said. “That’s one of the things I realized I could do from that.”
Starting next week, Ghosh will begin cooking large batches of soup from scratch in her small kitchen. Her first recipe – pumpkin soup for the fall. It will be distributed to community spots that allow home-cooked food donations.
She’s self-funding the project and cooking around her full-time job. Millvale is first on her delivery list, but she’s hoping to expand to places that allow home-cooked food.
“Any way we can help to give food to more people, it’s just the right thing to do,” Ghosh said.
The project is already gaining attention and support from volunteers and neighbors.
“That’s the beauty of this, the volunteerism and watching it suddenly take off in a way I did not expect,” said Ghosh. “We need to have more faith in each other again, and we’re losing that.”
Still, she admits she can’t do it alone.
“I could definitely use monetary donations for more soup containers and ingredients,” she said. “I’ll be buying large amounts of potatoes, onions, and garlic.”
Each container of soup will include a QR code linking to her website, where people can find the recipe and ingredient list, encouraging others to make their own soup and join the effort.
“This is a way to help the existing food organizations while also diverting some of the burden from them,” said Ghosh.
She’s also created social media pages to post updates, ingredient lists, ways to get involved, highlighting the community, and more.
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