Family pours goodwill into serving homeless

The Swannell family make serving soup to the homeless a family affair.

Tiana Swannell, 14, and Stephanie Swannell, 16, were first to jump in to help serve soup their mum Kiri had made.

They were all smiles as they handed out cups of pumpkin and bacon soup with bread as the line of about 10 people waited patiently in the cold.

Their dad Kevin manned the ladle, scooping the soup into paper cups.

Kiri began making the soup at 4pm, ready to hand out by 6pm. "Getting the pot to boil is the longest part of it," she said.

Next week she will make back hock soup.

Mrs Swannell said she hoped to see the operation expand in the next month by having soup stalls manned by different volunteers at spots around Hawke's Bay.

"Lots of people want to volunteer," she said. "Different people have shown up to help this week than last week."

Mrs Swannell plans to travel around Hawke's Bay next week finding businesses to donate ingredients. The money for last week's batch came out of the family's pocket. This week they had some people donate food.

Last week they went through 30 litres of soup. But their pot can hold 100 litres of soup, meaning they can provide soup for 200 people if needed.

Over summer Mrs Swannell plans to make sausages and salad to hand out.

The mobile soup truck is part of the Hope Unlimited project and operates in Clive Square every Monday night.