The week of the Super Bowl there was more than a rivalry between the New England Patriots and the Seattle Seahawks. Warwick schools had their own “Souper Bowl” competing to collect the most cans of soup during one week.

Deidre Pesola, a sixth grade teacher at Norwood Elementary, came up with the idea for her own school. The week before the actual Super Bowl she challenged the school to raise 300 cans and if they did, they could have a football-themed pep rally the Friday before the Super Bowl.

Pesola said, “It was a great opportunity to jump on the Patriots bandwagon and have a little play on words.”

The sixth grade had been working on community outreach and the “souper bowl” was a way for the sixth grade to incorporate their whole school in the process.

“We could get the kids pumped about helping the community,” Pesola said.

In the end, Norwood far exceeded their goal and collected 374 cans of soup, which they donated to the St. Williams Pantry.

Norwood, though, didn’t challenge only their own students; they went on to challenge multiple schools throughout the district by word of mouth and social media.

Many of the elementary schools were involved in the “Souper Bowl” challenge. Collectively, more than 3,400 cans of soup were collected and then donated.

John Brown Francis collected 233 cans, Holliman, 313; Wickes, 335 and Holden, Cedar Hill and Warwick Neck all donated over 400 cans. Also, Vets donated cans plus more than $300.

Some schools, like John Brown Francis, donated to the Rhode Island Food Bank, while other schools, like Norwood, donated their collected cans to their local food pantries.

Pesola said, “It wasn’t about the competition between schools; it was more about challenging the students to be civilly aware and to help reach the goals each school set for themselves.”

All the community work caught the eye of Alan Shawn Feinstein, who then agreed to donate $1 per can to each of the schools.

“We had planned on doing something anyway and it just happened to work out with the Feinstein program.”

Other schools had participated, such as Winman Junior High School, but we have not received totals from them due to February Vacation.