St. Mark Evangelical Lutheran Church participated in the national Souper Bowl of Caring event, raising $235.
HAMILTON - While millions of viewers tuned in Sunday night to watch Peyton Manning squeeze out a win over the Carolina Panthers, a Hamilton church tuned into a different national movement.
The youth group at St. Mark Evangelical Lutheran Church joined 2,136 other groups in participating in the Souper Bowl of Caring event - a national fundraiser started in 1990 with the goal of ending world hunger.
St. Mark's raised $235 for the Trenton Area Soup Kitchen, church secretary Betty Kling said.
The group did it by setting out three pots for people to throw money into before and after Sunday services, just hours before the big game.
Two were marked for the teams playing and one is marked "Not My Team," for those without a preference.
Kling said the Denver Broncos pot raked in the most donations with $139.
The "Not My Team" pot earned $61 in donations and the Carolina Panthers tallied $39.
"Drawing on the excitement always generated by the yearly Super Bowl and joining the ever-present need of the area hungry, the youth sponsor a yearly Souper Bowl of Caring event to raise funds for the local T.A.S.K.," Kling said.
"Begun by the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America as a sanctioned youth event, the idea began as a larger church youth fundraiser with total proceeds being sent to feed the hungry globally," Kling continued. "In recent years, the St. Mark youth felt that picking a local charity might bring more funds, aid and support. Certainly it would mean more to the youth to see their work feed local hungry."
According to the Souper Bowl of Caring website, 2,136 groups nationwide participated in this year's event, raising over $4.5 million in cash or food items donated to local charities.
Several organizations in Mercer County also participated in the event this year, according to the organization's website.
"Thank you all who were involved," Kling said.
Lindsay Rittenhouse may be reached at lrittenhouse@njadvancemedia.com. Find NJ.com on Facebook.