Soup Night by Maggie Stuckey Read Free Book Online Page A

your neighbors, and they know you, and everyone gets along.”
    “It was designed from the get-go as a village,” newer resident Elizabeth Newland adds. “A place where you can sit on your front porch and watch the world go by. And if you want to, sit out there with a bottle of wine and two glasses, and when somebody nice walks by, invite them up. The thing is, we are all conscious of deliberately working to make it a neighborhood. You know that expression, ‘It takes a village to raise a child’? Well, I believe it takes a village to sustain people. We are herd animals; we’re not meant to live apart.”
    Underscoring all of this neighborliness, and partly responsible for it, is their monthly Soup Supper. On the third Sunday of the month, from September to May, 50-some neighbors gather in the community center for soup and conversation. Often there is a program, with an invited speaker, but the real “agenda” is getting to know the neighbors.
    And it works. Ann Bates , who has lived in Civano about five years, explains it this way. “We have a neighborhood that believes in a strong sense of community, and many friendships have emerged from that feeling. A very important part of it is the monthly Soup Suppers. These dinners are a wonderful place to learn more about our neighbors, our community, our desert, and our world.”
    As a testament to how significant this one event can be in fostering community, consider this story from Judyth Willis. “Those of us who were here from the beginning bought into the idea that this was a place for people who wanted to be neighborly. Then about year 10, the population changed a little, and that sense of community began to fade. What to do? We hit on the idea of restarting the Soup Suppers, and announced it in our newsletter. Well, we had more than 60 people show up that first night! Lots of new families with kids and babies, sitting down with older folks, people meeting each other for the first time, and having a grand time. It was marvelous, so obviously we had to continue,” she says with a laugh.
    In terms of logistics, having the community center is a great advantage, of course, with its full kitchen and ample table space. People sign up to contribute food on a potluck basis: five or six people offer to bring soup, enough to feed eight; then two others sign up for bread, two for salad, and two for dessert. A few volunteers come early to set up, a few others stay for cleanup. In between, there is great food, lots of chatting, laughing, exchanging of addresses and phone numbers — all the small, sweet details of life in a close-knit neighborhood.
    Elizabeth Newland eloquently summarizes: “People who live in Civano have wildly different backgrounds, income levels, political opinions, all of that. But the Soup Suppers pull us together and put us on equal ground. Some of these differences are natural points of contention that in another setting could easily lead to arguments, but hostility disappears when people sit down next to each other to eat together. This is a hugely important part of my life.”
www.civano.com
www.civanoneighbors.com
For recipes from Civano Soup Supper, see:
Red Pozole
Sweet Corn Chowder
Smoky Chili
Potato–Wild Rice Soup
Peanut Butter–Chocolate Chip Cookies
Raspberry-Lemon Pie
Yummy Coleslaw

Sweet Corn Chowder
    Recipe from Elizabeth Newland, Civano Soup Supper , Tucson, Arizona
    Serves 4–6
    Elizabeth says: Always a potluck favorite . . . tasty and no strange ingredient surprises!

Ingredients
5 bacon strips, diced
1 small leek, trimmed and thinly sliced (see page 186 )
2 teaspoons fresh thyme or winter savory, or 1 ⁄ 2 teaspoon dried
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 large russet potatoes, peeled and cubed
2 cups milk
2 cups cream
2 cups corn kernels, fresh or frozen (preferably fresh)
Instructions
1. Brown the bacon in a large soup pot over medium heat until crisp, 5 to 7 minutes. Drain off all but 2 tablespoons of the bacon fat.
2. Add