The Stewpot Alliance threw a 50th birthday party with lunch for 700. It was a grand way to kick off a year-long celebration themed "50 Years of Loving Our Neighbors" for the Dallas nonprofit, which has served more than 8.7 million meals since it was founded in 1975 to feed people on the streets downtown.

  

Photo by Rob Wythe

Brenda Snitzer, Nicholas Kristof, Cynthia Izaguirre, and Rev. Amos Disasa

Hundreds of enthusiastic attendees gathered in late January for the 17th annual Soup’s On Luncheon and Art Show at the Thompson Dallas. The 2025 fundraising event was chaired by Buddy Jordan and Isabell and Philip Higginbotham and WFAA anchor Cynthia Izaguirre served as emcee.

Keynote speaker Nicholas Kristof, a two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and best-selling author, led the room in a rousing rendition of “Happy Birthday” and lauded The Stewpot’s progress in helping people rise above poverty and homelessness, noting that they've helped Dallas reduce unsheltered homelessness by 24 percent.

“Drops in the buckets – that’s how you fill buckets. That’s how you change the world,” Kristof said in his inspirational remarks.

The Stewpot executive director Brenda Snitzer underscored their mission with an update on the organization's expansion project: Recently, First Presbyterian Church of Dallas — which oversees the Stewpot — acquired the CitySquare Community Center building at 1610 S. Malcolm X Blvd. The Stewpot is in the process of moving to the campus and has taken on two of CitySquare’s core programs, the Food Pantry and Neighborhood Resource Center, which support 14,000 people annually.

Per tradition, Chef Brian C. Luscher of 33 Restaurant Group (Union Bear, Taverna Rossa, Seager & Sons etc.) and nine other local chefs created soups for lunch. The roster included Jeff Bekavac (Goodwins), J. Chastain (Sister, The Charles, Carlos Elegante), Omar Flores (Even Coast, Muchacho), Michael Haynes (The Stewpot), Danyele McPherson (Purple Collar Kitchen, Goodwins), Janice Provost (Parigi), Anastacia Quiñones-Pittman (José), Jeramie Robison (Thompson Dallas), and Abraham Salum (Salum).

The event also featured an art show of 100 pieces created by 22 artists from The Stewpot Art Program.

Among the 700 attendees were theRev. Amos Disasa, Angela Broyles, Amy Desler, Jennifer Lott, Andrea Meyer, Brian Luscher, Courtney Luscher, Christy Coltrin, Liz Bruni, Brad Oldham, Emilie Williams, Magdeline Pike, Grant, Kelly Garlock, Gene Mance, Jr., Bea Njuguna, Jonathan Mauerer, Jessica Hunt, Santos Cortez, Kathy Severson, Liz Brantley, Kelly Whitely, Jason Whitely, Kevin Sams, Scott Helbing, Cyndi Helbing, Ron Raphael, Margie Francis, Ray Francis, Owen Urech, Madison Urech, Rebecca Eldredge, Jana Shafer, Stephen Angelette, Clark Donat, and Marion Donat.

Since 2008, Soup’s On has raised more than $5 million for homeless and at-risk individuals in Dallas.