Soup and scone fundraisers are on the menu at a New West deli.
Leona Green, co-owner of the Greens and Beans Deli in Sapperton, regularly hosts fundraisers for various charitable causes. This Sunday she’ll be cooking up batches of soup to help local folks in need.
“I am calling it Soup for Socks. People donate socks, and I give them a bowl of soup,” she said. “It just sounded like a fun thing to do.”
In exchange for a tasty bowl of soup, folks will donate socks that will be given to the Lookout Housing and Health Society and the Purpose Society. She’s already raised enough money to donate socks to hampers being put together for seniors by another local resident.
This weekend’s soup selection hasn’t yet been decided, so you’ll have to stop by to see what’s on the menu. (The deli will be serving soup from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Sunday, Dec. 12.)
“There’s going to be a whole bunch; I am not sure exactly yet what they are,” Green told the Record. “Every day we have seven kinds of soup here, so there’s going to be a big variety.”
Next Sunday, Green will once again be raising money to buy dog food for an animal shelter in Guatemala.
“They are having a tough time down at the shelter,” she said. “People aren’t going there to visit. It’s usually the tourists who feed the dogs. The people there don’t have the money to buy dog food and stuff, especially now. And dog food doubled in price over COVID because they are not getting the deliveries into Guatemala. So it’s really bad. I’m really happy that I will be able to help them.”
It’s an organization that Green, with the help of her customers, has supported in the past. She’ll be heading to Guatemala over Christmas to spend time with fellow New West residents (and animal lovers) Lorrie Williams and Angela Kerslake, who will also be volunteering at the animal shelter.
Instead of soup, Green will be baking up scones on Sunday, Dec. 19 to raise money for dog food for the shelter. It will be taking place from 9 a.m. to noon., on a first-come, first-served basis; for a donation, customers will get six scones. (The types of scones that will be served is still to be determined and will be posted on the Eat New West page on Facebook.)
Green regularly heads to the deli on Sundays (when it’s closed) to bake for special scone sales. They’re quickly snapped up when she posts info about the sales online and takes scone orders.
“I can do 100 in an hour,” she said. “So, if I get an order for 600, I start at 3 a.m. because it will be six hours till it’s pick-up time. I usually try to pay attention and stop it at 400 or 500. One day I just didn’t; I forget all about it and by the time I looked there was 800.”
The scone sales have helped Greens and Beans pay the rent during the COVID-19 pandemic. Its food trucks, which deliver to a route of commercial areas, have remained open and the deli has been open for take-out.
“Business wise, it’s been super busy,” Green said. “We only did takeout till about two months ago, and then I finally put the tables back out and people are coming in.”
When the pandemic hit, Green supported the community by cooking about 8,000 bowls of soup for seniors. In the summer, she held scone fundraisers to support victims of the wildfires.
In other news, Greens and Beans Deli recently renegotiated a five-year lease extension to its current location at 143 East Columbia St. While the rent has doubled, Leona and son Matt Green, who co-own the business, are pleased that they don’t have to hunt for a new location and invest in a new space.
Matt said the building’s owner plans to do spruce up the building’s exterior a bit. He said the deli is planning to reopen on Saturdays.
“It’s a huge relief,” he said. “Now we can focus on what we do best.”
Follow Theresa McManus on Twitter @TheresaMcManus
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