TYLER (KYTX) - Every year, Chick-Fil-A teams up with the Salvation Army for four weeks to feed the hungry. The restaurants match every bowl of soup they sell with a donation of soup. The numbers from this years collection that started January 18 are in. The number of bowls at the Tyler locations more than doubled over last year.
CBS 19's Amanda Roberson was there when Chick-Fil-A gave the soup donation to the Salvation Army. She has more on what the generosity of others means to people who rely on the Salvation Army for a warm meal.
John Hopkins has been staying at the Salvation Army in Tyler for almost a month and said he's thankful for each meal. "It means I won't be hungry. I've never been hungry. I feel very lucky, I know there's people out there who are."
Thanks to a donation of 6,523 bowls of soup from Chick-Fil-A, Hopkins won't go hungry any time soon.
"That's part of our heart also and whether the people of Tyler know it or not, they're helping too," explained Tyler Chick-Fil-A Owner/Operator Ed King. He said there's a clear reason Chick-Fil-A sold 3,643 more bowls of soup than last year. "Well we introduced a new soup is one thing! It went over real well, better than we thought it would. We couldn't keep it in house as a matter of fact."
That soup is their new, limited time Chicken Tortilla Soup.
As boxes of chicken noodle soup were handed off, Salvation Army Captain Ben Lawrence said he's ready to get the soup to people who need it. "It will be served from our Center of Hope kitchen and take some out depending if we get, the weather cooperates and the temperatures drop a little bit. We may even take some out on our mobile kitchen to serve some of the areas we serve on a regular basis."
Service Hopkins is grateful for. "They just do it out of the kindness of their heart and you can feel the warmth and compassion in their spirit."
Warmth, from both the spirit and the bowl.
The Salvation Army in Tyler wasn't the only place more soup was donated. 4,482 bowls of soup were donated at the Longview Salvation Army. That's 1,662 more bowls than last year.
They also said the new chicken tortilla soup was what helped numbers go up.
