Stay up to date with our latest efforts to raise funds and support our Robbo kids!

THE SOUP REPORT

May 2023

Here’s the mash-up from our Potato filled week of soup mayhem! Firstly, it takes a village to make enough soup to feed the hungry crowds, which we soon learnt on Day 1 of the Festival. The line was getting bigger by the second and we had about 8 hands on deck, heating soup, taking orders, filling cups, sprinkling herbs, working the till and trying to get the card reader working! At this point in time; I was amazed at how everyone just thrived in the chaos and we all came together to make it happen! We had Lachy and Ben running back and forth with the big pots of soup to fill the urn on the table, Tania in the kitchen washing like a mad lady and the rest of us taking orders and filling cups. The kids were on the herb duties and somehow, we made it till 4pm before selling out of soup on day 1. Before we go into more detail of the Festival itself, we just want to acknowledge the families that put up their hand to either make soup, work the soup stand or both! It was quite a team effort and was so exciting to get hands being held high to help us pull this big commitment together. It really was such a huge response from volunteers and we thank you so much.We were offered a spot at the Potato Festival so we could raise money for our school, no charge as they wanted to give back to the community. However, we had the pressure of making this work well as it’s a professional festival and we needed to deliver the soup goods. I believe we did a good job at that and we hope to secure this opportunity in the years to come as we also had a lot of fun hanging with the chefs, rock-ers and festival committee. It was just not the parents of the kids that helped us make this possible. The Hills Family were so very generous and donated big bags of Potatoes, not sure they expected it to be so many but they donated willingly – we are estimating about 120kg of potatoes. A pile of leeks were donated from the lovely Yasemin and Chris at the Robertson Fruit Shop – this was very much appreciated as we did use LOTS of LEEKS, we will try and adjust that recipe next year! Last but not least we also had the amazing Tommy and Belinda from Pizza’s in the Mist came to the party cooking litres of soup for us on Friday which we collected in big buckets on Saturday too. So yes, this totally was a Robertson Village effort. Everyone is just so happy to help us raise money for the playground for all of our kids to enjoy. How lucky are we to live in this special community.Just when we thought we had asked for enough favours we put out the call for another huge amount of Potato and Leek soup + chopped chives and parsley to get us through Sunday. Again, most people that had already made soup and a few new-soupers answered the call – everyone on Saturday evening ran out bought some more stock, onions, cream and picked up the donated leeks and potatoes. The Friendly Grocer were intrigued as to what was going on! Overnight we chopped, cooked, pureed the soup for Sunday and we had loads of pots ready to go for Day 2. Day 2 was not quite as busy as the Saturday, however we still sold a lot of soup as it was a very cold day. We were very prepared and knew what to expect. A little change of hands with Davinia being in the kitchen washing those pots, Jen and Dan on heating up soup duty, Holly, Beth and Josie serving the soup with the kids once again helping with herbs and going on some sugar breaks in between to keep them going. Drum Roll….. So overall taking out a few expenses which was really just the bread rolls and packaging we ended up raising $3215 which is a lot of soup! We will have our meeting on Wednesday night and work out what stage we can commit to next with this wonderful fundraising event and then report back. We will have our meeting on Wednesday night and work out what stage we can commit to next with this wonderful fundraising event and then report back. Thank you again to the big list of Robbo Village Soup Chefs for buying ingredients, lending pots and then refilling once again for the Sunday and the rest that turned up on Saturday and Sunday – giving up their weekends to make sure this was a success. I think it will be a while before Potato and Leek soup is back on the menu….possibly until the next one for our households! Not to forget Raven who made multiple trips to the showground on the Friday with lots of filled pots, setting everything up, working out the cooking stations and having the table looking pretty and everything ready to start selling soup on Saturday morning. With Daniel also coming to the party on Sunday assisting us with the heavy lifting and then helping us pack up at the end of the day. A special mention to Ellie, Coral, Jack and Josh! Our customers loved hearing more from them as they sprinkled the herbs and counted the cash.  We rewarded ourselves with a helicopter ride and a very good dusting of snow on the Sunday, to end off an awesome weekend raising money for our school. Thanks again for your help!  The Soup VP’S Raven Rutherford and Nicole Feggans