An upcoming gathering will combine a quick and easy meal with a chance to jump-start some local ideas and turn them into reality.

Hartland SOUP is a community micro-funding dinner in which guests pay $5 and receive a meal of soup, salad, bread and dessert, and a vote towards ideas pitched by other guests. After the various projects are presented, the crowd will vote for their favorite and the winner will receive the money collected at the event to put toward bringing their outreach effort to fruition. Stefanie Furge, Communications Manager for Hartland Living, says some of the projects that have been presented or have won in the past include the Hartland Home and Garden Club’s idea to plant a garden at the Cromaine District Library and a cleanup effort by a local Girl Scout troop at the Hartland Village Library.

Speaking to community members' proposals Furge tells WHMI, “The only thing we ask is that it be something for our Hartland community and that they come back at a later SOUP and tell us what they did with the money and give us an update.”

Furge encourages community members with ideas and projects to submit their proposal as event organizers have yet to receive any submissions for the upcoming gathering. A link with event and submission details is posted below. (DK)