The Great Boquete Soup Fest

[Brandy]

The Boquete Knitters and Quilters will be holding their third Great Boquete Soup Fest on Friday, March 18, from 11:30AM to 2PM at the BCP.  For a suggested donation of $10, guests receive a bowl and spoon and a dessert ticket.  They then can go through the room and sample 18-plus different delicious soups before settling on one (or more!) to enjoy before having a dessert.  Beginning at 1:30 PM, take-out containers will be available for $5 each so that you can choose one or more soups to take home and enjoy later.

All funds raised are used to purchase yarn, fabric and quilt batting, with which they create baby blankets, caps, sweaters, booties and quilts.  These items are taken to two local public health clinics which serve the indigent residents in Boquete.  They also donate items to the newborn nursery at the Obaldia Hospital in David, as well as chemo caps to the Pediatric Oncology Department there.

The Boquete Knitters and Quilters was started seven years ago after Brandy Gregory learned that often Ngabe-Bugle mothers bring their babies in to the clinics for newborn checkups carefully and lovingly swaddled with newspaper -- because they have nothing else to use.   So she invited people to join her weekly at the Fundadores Hotel to knit soft, beautiful baby things.

When the group moved to its current meeting place at the Fundacion Pro Integracion (Handicap Foundation) in Alto Boquete, some of the Latina Panamanian ladies there were intrigued, as knitting is not part of the culture in Panama.  They asked to learn how to knit, and The Knitters were delighted to teach them.   They joined in knitting for the Ngabe-Bugle babies.  Later on, several Ngabe-Bugle ladies asked if they might also learn how to knit.  Of course the ladies were delighted to teach them, too!  And now they have members of all three cultures: expat, Latina and Ngabe-Bugle who sit together and work together for their common cause.

The Quilters joined the group about three years ago.  They meet on Mondays in each others' homes, where the sewing machines and cutting tables are.  And they make stunning, colorful quilts by the dozens!

A few months ago the Boquete Knitters and Quilters began sponsoring a series of Great Boquete Soup Fests which allow local cooks to show off their soup-making skills while donating to a good cause.  People can come, sample as many soups as they wish and then eat their fill of their favorites.  The next soup fest will be held on March 18 at the BCP between 11:30 AM and 2 PM.

To learn how you can join or help, please contact Brandy at TNRNMSG@YAHOO.COM.