Bridge To Home held its third annual Soup For the Soul event to raise funds for the homeless shelter, which opened two weeks early this year due to the anticipated El Niño weather event.

The event was held at the Savia campus of Real Life Church this year, which is a change from the past. The event is normally held at Bridge To Home’s Emergency Winter Homeless Shelter, however because it is already open, the nonprofit had to find a new venue.

“This is the first year we’ve held this outside the shelter,” said Tim Davis, the executive director of Bridge To Home. “It’s a very lively event.”

Over 200 Santa Clarita Valley residents attended this year’s event, close to double the amount from last year. The guests were able to enjoy live music, appetizers, both a silent and live auction as well as a variety of soups.

The cost was $50 per person, which went towards the homeless shelter. Attendees were treated to a wide selection of soups donated by several local restaurants, including the Lazy Dog Cafe and Salt Creek Grille.

The attendees formed a soup line in the same way clients of the homeless shelter do every night to receive food.

For all 127 nights that the shelter is open this year, different organizations in the community have stepped up and offered to provide dinner.

Real Life Church will also, for the 19th year, provide breakfast every Saturday that the shelter is open.

Even with food being donated, it costs about $3,000 each night to run the homeless shelter, said Gary Choppe’, a member of the Bridge To Hope board of directors. Through sponsorship, the shelter has raised $40,000 and expected to raise at least $5,000 more at Saturday’s event.

“We’ve had a lot of great sponsors,” said Choppe’. “There are very generous people in this community.”

Among the sponsors were Supervisor Michael Antonovich with the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors, who sent his senior deputy, Rosalind Wayman, to the event to donate $150,000 to the shelter on his behalf.

Other noted guests included Assemblyman Scott Wilk, Santa Clarita City Councilman Dante Acosta and William S. Hart Union High School District governing board members Joe Messina and Linda Storli.

Mike, a homeless Santa Clarita resident who, in the past, made his home in the Santa Clara river wash for most of the year and struggled with addiction, spoke on stage.

“Without Bridge To Home,” he said, “I wouldn’t have been able to pull my life together.”

Mike is now nearly five years sober and has just applied for permanent housing in the city of Santa Clarita.

The Souls of Hope project was also shown at Saturday’s event. The project, a video and series of photos of clients of the homeless shelter, such as Mike, was created to tell stories, said Davis.

“It’s a reminder that there are homeless in the valley,” he said, “and all of them have their own story.”

| Chris McCrory