PROFILE
By Shauna Steigerwald
Suzy Dorward and Suzy DeYoung
The ‘Soup’-er Suzys are cooking up major growth for La Soupe
“T
here’s more food out there than you could ever imagine, and there are more hungry people out there than you could ever imagine,” Suzy DeYoung said. La Soupe, the nonprofit she
founded in 2014, works to bridge that gap, using food that otherwise might go to waste to create meals for people who otherwise might go hungry. In its short existence, the organization has rescued a million pounds of
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food and transformed it into 650,000 servings – all in a 900-square-foot space. Now, La Soupe is poised for growth. A $5 million capital campaign is funding a new 7,500-squarefoot facility in East Walnut Hills and will provide operating funds so La Soupe can expand its programs. To help the burgeoning organization achieve its goals, DeYoung brought on a development director with a long history of success. During her more than 30-year career, Suzy Dorward has helped raise $140 million for Cincinnati nonprofits. “So many people say ‘I hate to raise money,’ ” she said. “I say I just connect a mission with someone’s heart and hope it results in an investment in the cause.” After volunteering with La Soupe for two years, she now is making those connections as part of the nonprofit’s staff. In that regard, it seems that two Suzys are better than one. “Suzy (DeYoung) tells the story. Suzy tells the need. Suzy shares the passion,” Dorward said. “I’m there to ask, ‘How would you like to be involved in the future of this vision you’ve just heard from this wonderful woman?’ ” Both women clearly share a passion for helping others. But different paths led them to pursue that passion at the same organization.
A chef on a mission DeYoung jokes she was genetically predisposed to become a chef, following in the footsteps of her grandfather and her father. The latter, Pierre Adrian, was the first executive chef at the Maisonette. DeYoung worked in multiple restaurants before teaming with her sister to open La Petite Pierre. After 25 years, she sold her interest to her sister and focused on combating the waste of leftover food she’d witnessed as a restaurateur and caterer. “Giving the food away was not that easy,” she said. “There was nobody doing any kind of rescue of fresh prepared meals.” Her La Soupe filled that void, and then some. “At the beginning, what I thought about was how much food restaurants were wasting,” she said. But she soon looked for waste at places like grocery stores, where she could get fresh ingredients. Kroger was an early partner in that mission. During La Soupe’s first year, DeYoung turned 100 pounds of produce a week into soup for people in need. Working with Oyler School in Lower Price Hill established the model of partnering with agencies to supply healthy meals “made with comfort and love,” as she puts it. But that modest pace didn’t last long.
