Souper Bowl of Caring Houston 2016 kicks off

HOUSTON (FOX 26) - With Houston Texans cheerleaders and University of Houston Cougar Dolls cheering them on, volunteers from competing supermarkets, Boy Scouts of America troops and students sorted canned goods as the Souper Bowl of Caring Houston 2016 launched. The annual hunger relief initiative will culminate on Sunday, Feb. 7, also known as Super Bowl Sunday.

The three-week campaign began on Wednesday at the Boy Scouts of America Sam Houston Area Council building with a pep rally and news conference. The retail volunteers represented H-E-B, Kroger and Randalls. The Houston effort continues to be the largest in the U.s. for Souper Bowl of Caring with a 2016 goal of generating enough food and money to total $2,016,000. The goal would generate almost 2.75 million meals for hungry people in the Houston area.

The three ways to donate to the campaign include:

• purchase pre-packaged bags at participating grocery stores
• make a cash donation at checkout lanes at participating grocery stores
• digital donations by visiting https://souperbowl.org/

Businesses, schools, churches and other organizations will also be collecting non-perishable food items for the Souper Bowl of Caring.