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La Soupe

ChildrenEducationHealthHungerLife Skills
915 East Mcmillan Street, Cincinnati, Oh
Phone 513-271-0100
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Our mission

La Soupe bridges the gap between food waste and hunger by transforming surplus ingredients into nutritious meals for those in need through the power of chefs. 
Opportunities

Culinary Education

Who We Are

The Culinary Education program takes La Soupe’s mission into classrooms, community centers, and schools across Greater Cincinnati.  Our education volunteers teach cooking skills, support culinary instructors, prepare and deliver the materials that make every class possible, and ensure that participants leave with both knowledge and confidence in the kitchen.

What We Do

Culinary Education volunteers are teachers, supports, drivers, and builders.  These volunteers set up before the class starts and make sure every participant has what they need to succeed.  La Soupe believes that cooking is a life skill everyone deserves access to–regardless of income, background, or experience.

Types of Classes We Offer:

Cooking Improv–In this hands-on experience, participants step into the La Soupe mission by prepping rescued food for our daily operations. With expert guidance, participants build confidence in the kitchen, learning to cooking without relying on a recipe.

Give a Crock–Over six hands-on classes, students practice knife skills and fundamental cooking techniques while preparing a meal to take home.  Graduates leave with more than just knowledge, they receive a slow cookier, a cookbook, and essential kitchen tools to keep them cooking long after the program ends.

Cooking for the Family–Participants learn eight essential cooking techniques, how to shop smart, and how to prepare fresh, wholesome meals at home.  Beyond cooking, the program empowers families to make healthier choices, helping to prevent diet-related chronic illness like diabetes and obesity.  Graduates leave with practical skills, and a cast iron pan and kitchen tools to keep them cooking long after the program ends.
  • Occasional, Weekly, Monthly, Ongoing, Recurring
  • Adults
  • Individuals
  • Weekdays, Evenings, Weekends
Get Registered Today!

Bread Wrappers/ Snack Packers

Description

Bread Wrapping and Snack Packing volunteers turn rescued bread, baked goods, and ingredients into ready-to-eat nourishment — sorting and packaging donated bread, assembling snack packs, labeling and stickering quarts, and building sandwiches for schools and community partners. It’s hands-on, high-volume work with a fast turnaround: bread rescue is time-sensitive, and every loaf sorted and sandwich made reaches someone between meals, where hunger often hides.

What this role needs:

  • Attention to detail — checking quality and dates, and packing with care
  • Ability to work with cling wrap and stickers for packaging and labeling
  • Comfort working solo or alongside a group, depending on the day
  • This station can be done standing or seated, and may be wheelchair accessible — reach out to volunteer@lasoupe.org with any accessibility questions

Nice to have (not required):

  • Food service or food packaging experience
  • Ability to help with team lifts up to 30lbs
  • Occasional, Weekly, Monthly, Ongoing, Recurring
  • 55+, Adults
  • Individuals
  • Weekdays
Get registered today!

Kitchen Utility Help

Utility volunteers are the engine of La Soupe’s kitchen. This is the broadest role in the building — a shift might mean scooping and portioning soupe, chopping produce, unwrapping and processing bulk rescue as it comes through the door, breaking down pallets, assisting chefs with intake, or jumping into whatever the day’s donations demand. Between a rescued ingredient and a nourishing meal sits an enormous amount of essential, hands-on work — and Utility volunteers do that work. It’s not always glamorous, but nothing in this kitchen happens without it.

**Please note, we can take activity requests in this space but the staff ultimately has to assign activities to the volunteers based on inventory and priorities for the day.  We genuinely appreciate your flexibility to help in all areas of this role.

Tasks vary by shift and may include:

  • Soupe scooping and portioning
  • Chopping and general prep assistance
  • Chef intake — receiving and processing rescued food as it arrives
  • Unwrapping and bulk processing
  • Pallet breakdown
  • Miscellaneous kitchen support wherever the day needs it

What this role needs:

  • Ability to stand for the duration of the shift
  • Ability to perform repetitive motions including chopping, scooping, bending, and twisting
  • Comfort in a busy kitchen environment — it can be loud, messy, wet, and full of activity
  • Ability to hear instructions and stay aware in an active production space
  • Flexibility to move between tasks as the kitchen’s needs shift

Nice to have (not required):

  • Kitchen, food service, or warehouse experience
  • Comfort with knives and basic prep skills
  • Occasional, Weekly, Monthly, Ongoing, Recurring
  • 55+, Adults
  • Individuals, Groups (2-10), Groups (10+), Corporate Teams
  • Food Packing
  • On-site
  • Weekdays
Get Registered Today!
Stories

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How you help

Volunteers Make La Soupe Happen. They are the heart of everything we do. Whether chopping vegetables, packaging soupe, rescuing food, or teaching classes, their dedication makes it possible to serve our community every day. Last year alone, volunteers contributed over 16,000 hours to support our mission!
About us

Each week, we rescue an average of 30,000 pounds of fresh food from local grocers, farms, manufacturers, and distributors. Our chefs transform these ingredients into restaurant-quality soupes and meals, which are shared with community partners who feed our neighbors facing food insecurity.

Our Vision

A future where no food is wasted, communities are nourished, and people and the environment thrive together.

Our Core Values

We believe in exemplary quality and safety, agile creativity, dignified inclusivity, community collaboration, and dynamic sustainability. We operate with kindness, community-centered decision making, transparency, and action-oriented leadership.