About Our Non-Profit
There are dozens of versions of the timeless story of Stone Soup, a story about the power of one and the power of community. One version is about an elderly woman who finds her way to a small village during the cold winter months of a depression. She is homeless and hungry, so she begins knocking on the doors of the villager’s homes asking for something to eat. Everyone turns her away because they “only have enough food to feed their own families”.
After unsuccessfully knocking on several doors, the elderly woman goes to the center of town and there, she starts a fire. She places a pot full water and rocks she has gathered onto the fire and begins to heat it up, stirring it as the steam rolls off the pot.
Soon, the villagers begin to walk by asking her, "what are you cooking?". The woman replies, "I am cooking Stone Soup. What would really make this soup delicious, though, is some onion". One of the villagers replies, "We have some onion and runs to their home to retrieve it, then places their onion into the Stone Soup pot.
Not long after another villager walks by and asks, "What are you cooking?". The woman replies, "I am cooking Stone Soup but would really make this soup even better is some carrot". The villager replies, "We have some carrot and runs to their home to retrieve it, then places their carrot into the Stone Soup pot.
Eventually, everyone in the village that had previously turned the elderly woman away at their door had contributed something to the woman’s Stone Soup and where they had initially only had enough food to feed their own families, they had now collectively contributed enough smaller portions of their own food to collaboratively feed the entire village, including the elderly woman.
Nils McKenney, Alumnus - Le Cordon Bleu College of Culinary Arts and Social Entrepreneur, along with his wife, Rosie, a professional advocate, family support specialist, and early learning intervention coordinator are Co-Founders of The Stone Soup Collaborative (TSSC). Their family is not unfamiliar to the innate challenges associated with homelessness and hunger. It is from having experienced both firsthand that they made the decision to start feeding the homeless, nutritionally compromised and food insecure population "Stone Soup".
Every year people from all walks of life find themselves nutritionally compromised and, in many cases, homeless. Environmental elements can add even more stress to someone's already stressful situation. When people are in crisis it is not easy to manage everything on their own. Even the smallest acts of kindness can warm an otherwise, broken heart, wounded spirit and empty stomach.
TSSC gathers financial resources from people just like you (the Villagers) and hits the streets to serve of up some love to anyone and everyone in need of some (the elderly woman).
We are a "full circle" organization. We believe that part of the process of eradicating hunger on the community level and modeling this globally is a sustainable food system. A sustainable food system can only "sustain" itself if the people in the community play an active role in the economics of the system.
Our objective is to collaborate with our financial supporters and volunteers (YOU - the villagers) by collecting your financial contributions and using these resources to operate a licensed and professionally managed commercial kitchen capable of meeting the needs necessary for feeding our community. Our food is sourced from our local collaborative partners managing food rescue operations, as well as from local farms, companies and organizations (the Producers). TSSC (the Provider) then produces high quality, nutritious "stone soup" (meals) to be served on site at various locations, distributed to our collaborative partners for them to serve, and even delivered directly to our food insecure community members. By following this method, we are collaborating with the entire community in a "Full Circle" operation that supports the eradication of hunger, as well as sustainable food practices, on a local community level and modeling this on a global community level.
Our goal is to work synergistically with our collaborative partners to offer comprehensive services that include but are not limited to;
- Feed our communities most vulnerable.
- Career training opportunities in the culinary arts and food services industry through our working restaurant, food production kitchens and classrooms.
- Community open cooking classes and other opportunities, both in person and online.
- Community volunteer opportunities.
- Collaborate with and support other initiatives and efforts focused on eradicating hunger, disrupting poverty, and supporting the disadvantaged and underserved.
- Creating a scalable infrastructure and platform that is duplicatable.
TSSC is currently focused primarily on providing our services in Pierce, King and Thurston County, WA. In order to continue spreading the love, we need your financial support. 100% of your tax-deductible contribution will go toward bringing smiles to peoples face and peace to their spirit.
"We are making a difference in people’s lives and it is becoming a movement. This was our hope. It is never about ego for us. It is always about being the change we want to see in the world and simply loving one another without any agenda other than to love. It is about being good stewards of what we have been given". - Nils McKenney, Chief Servant, Co-Founder and Executive Chef, The Stone Soup Collaborative