Soup's On - CAREfully Delivered Meals was started in October 2011 when founder, Teresa Buelna decided that the Corona community needed a group that people could count on when families hit some of life's biggest hiccups like cancer, house fires, major surgery of a family member, etc. Her daughter was in school with Barry Adams Jr. at Eisenhower Elementary when he was diagnosed with Leukemia. A group of mothers quickly put together a meal calendar to help the family with meals. Teresa was not settled with the fact that once the calendar time ran out no one else would be caring for their family and their crisis had just begun. She asked herself who would help them 6 months down the road when reality sets in and you are more stressed than when you first found out because the shock is over and everyone's initial kindness dies down.
From there the seed was planted and Soup's On was created. Initially just helping 1 family that already had community help, The Hale Family. It was easy to fill in their spots and get started on growing this group. After all these years the group is on both Facebook and sends weekly updates via email and has nearly 1000 followers between both of those forms of communication. Facebook has the most activity with close to 800 likes on their page. Soup's On has helped over 20 families and each holiday has made sure that the families being cared for have holiday meals for both Thanksgiving and Christmas and sometimes is able to organize gifts.
In October 2015, right at the 4 year mark of the start of Soup's On, Teresa accepted a full time job to work outside the home and was worried she'd no longer be able to assist the community with this group. She reached out to her volunteers and found a new set of community parents for her baby, Soups On. Jill Castillo, partnered with her long-time friend Nickie Solis, happily stepped forward to take on the responsibility of being the new organizers of this group. Jill Castillo is very active in the community leading an annual Lemonade Stand and Bake Sale that has occurred 4 years in a row in her neighborhood to raise thousands of $$$ for a new family each year that has a child battling cancer. Nickie Solis has been her right-hand gal helping her to organize that event. They are a natural fit for handling the families of Soup's On.
If you have any questions about how to help the families, you don't understand how to use the website or you know a family that could use some help, please contact Jill @ (951)271-0635 or Nickie @ (951)515-7388 or via email [email protected] or on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/SoupsOnCorona