Soup’s On! will take a year off for the second time in 20 years.

Rather than hold its annual scholarship fund-raising luncheon in late January, the St. Kevin Social Justice Scholarship Committee again will put the soup-sampling event on pause due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

A lack of clarity about capacity limits for the St. Kevin parish hall prompted the committee not to risk preparations for the one-day event.

A difficulty is the current regulated capacity of the parish hall for public events is 25. There is no way of knowing if and when that capacity will be increased before late January. It makes it challenging if not impossible to sell tickets.

The committee expects to bring back Soup’s On! in January 2023.

It regrets disappointing its loyal diners and supporters as well as the culinary students and teachers who gain valuable experience by staging the luncheon, said committee chair Joe Barkovich.

Each January for 18 years, Soup’s On! has hosted about 350 people at St. Kevin parish hall.

For $10 each, they sampled a variety of soups prepared by culinary students from local high schools including Notre Dame, Eastdale, Ecole secondaire Confederation (now Ecole Franco-Niagara) , Blessed Trinity and Lakeshore Catholic as well as from Niagara College’s Canadian Food and Wine Institute and by a local small business catering service, Stephanie The Lunch Lady.

Over the years, the committee has awarded more than $55,000 in post-secondary scholarships to local high school graduates active in social justice work in their schools and in the community. It has also provided $6,150 in allocations to special projects.

In 2020, Soup’s On! was cancelled due to COVID-19 restrictions.

However, three graduates from Lakeshore Catholic High School in Port Colborne, Notre Dame College School in Welland and Blessed Trinity Catholic Secondary School in Grimsby each received $1,000 post secondary scholarships in recognition of their contribution to social justice projects.

These scholarship funds were drawn from savings accumulated from earlier Soup’s On! events.

Members of the committee are Bernadette Barkovich, Wayne Campbell, Jessica Soul and Joe Barkovich.