Local nonprofit cooks authentic soups to feed hundreds of new Afghan arrivals in the DMV
WASHINGTON (7News) — KindWorks is an award-winning local nonprofit organization that inspires action for a kinder world. The group is focused on making it easy for busy people to take part in community service. They use a wide range of projects, from cooking meals using recovered foods to serve at shelters, refurbishing computers for students and families in need, and setting up apartments for newly arriving refugee families.
During the pandemic, the non-profit came up with a way to do good, while staying socially distant, and still building a sense of community. They called it 'KindSoup for the Soul'. The idea is to cook a huge pot of soup, every week via zoom, and to share it with food banks, shelters, neighbors, and those in need.
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KindWorks donated thousands of quarts of soup and made the past pandemic year a little more nourishing - both for them as they gather in kitchens to cook, and for those receiving our home-cooked soups.
With the arrival of so many Afghan refugees into our area, the organizers decided to do KindSoup: Afghan Edition - invite Afghan chefs to lead in making authentic Afghan soups that are shared with Afghan refugees and others in need.
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The kick-off soup this week is lobya - a red kidney bean soup - and they have Chef Zainab, who works for a local food delivery service that uses immigrant and refugee chefs called Foodhini. The group also has Omar, the founder of Afghan restaurant Aracosia leading a session, as well as Wali, whose family KindWorks set up an apartment for a few years ago.
Raghad of nonprofit Mozaic will deliver these soups to Afghan SIVs and refugees. The campaign will focus on a different Afghan soup and chef for the next five or six weeks.
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KindWorks is also making Afghan welcome meals and 'kits' with recipes and ingredients for anyone who wants to cook dinner for an arriving family.
It's been amazing, so many people want to help.
Anyone can join from wherever they are; details are on their website.
