Laramie Soup Kitchen Hosts Dueling Pianos Fundraiser to Support Local Meals
Dueling pianos, a wine pull, and a plated dinner return to Laramie as the Soup Kitchen's annual fundraiser aims to keep 50,000 meals a year flowing to Albany County.
Tickets for the Laramie Soup Kitchen's annual Dueling Pianos fundraiser go on sale ahead of Saturday, April 10, when the organization will stage a plated dinner, a live interactive piano show, and a wine and gift-card pull to raise money for its daily operations.
The Soup Kitchen served around 50,000 meals in its most recent reported year, a dramatic rise from a five-year average of 20,000 meals annually between 2017 and 2021. Events like the Dueling Pianos fundraiser help sustain the kind of private revenue needed to keep pace with that growth.
The organization was started in 1983 by a group of local church women who prepared meals in their own homes to serve 10 to 12 people in whatever public space was available, eventually settling into its longtime home in the lower level of St. Matthew's Episcopal Cathedral. Today the Soup Kitchen offers a nutritious, restaurant-quality meal each weekday from 10:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. and keeps its doors open from 8:00 a.m., sheltering individuals from the elements until 2:00 p.m.
The Dueling Pianos format has become one of the organization's signature fundraising nights, drawing a crowd to a seated dinner before a request-driven, audience-interactive piano performance. The evening's wine and gift-card pull adds a second layer of giving for attendees, allowing supporters to contribute beyond their ticket price.
The purpose of the Laramie Soup Kitchen is to increase access to quality, nutritious food so that every person who is hungry or alone may share a meal without cost. The organization serves wholesome meals to all who are hungry or lonely while also responding to food insecurity on a much larger scale through food recovery and redistribution programs, made possible through partnerships with local retailers, restaurants, the City and County, other nonprofits, businesses, schools, and individuals throughout the region.
Food recovery staff collected, sorted, and redistributed 185,500 pounds of donated food in 2024, with a record 50,000 pounds, 88 percent of it fresh, shared with 21 nonprofit partners. Fundraising events provide discretionary dollars that allow the organization to fill gaps not covered by public Community Partner grants.
Those interested in tickets or more information can reach the Laramie Soup Kitchen at (307) 460-1605 or info@laramiesoupkitchen.org.
Sources:
Know something we missed? Have a correction or additional information?
Submit a Tip
