Teton Behavioral Health Alliance to host third annual Soupgiving

This free com­mu­ni­ty event invites peo­ple of all ages to share warm soups pre­pared by local busi­ness­es and orga­ni­za­tions, con­nect with friends old and new, and enjoy live music by Hilary Camino. Activ­i­ties and crafts for kids will be led by Teton Lit­er­a­cy Cen­ter, Jack­son Hole Children’s Muse­um, and Grand Teton Nation­al Park and Asso­ci­a­tion. Atten­dees will also have the oppor­tu­ni­ty to cre­ate a lantern to take home, thanks to a col­lab­o­ra­tion with Jack­son Hole Pub­lic Art — a mean­ing­ful sym­bol of hope and con­nec­tion dur­ing the dark­er months. A resource table will pro­vide infor­ma­tion about local behav­ioral health ser­vices and ways to access support.

Lone­li­ness and iso­la­tion are known risk fac­tors for poor men­tal health. In the 2024 Behav­ioral Health Com­mu­ni­ty Sur­vey con­duct­ed in Teton Coun­ty, more than 45% of respon­dents report­ed feel­ing lone­ly. Soup­giv­ing aims to counter that by fos­ter­ing a sense of community.

“Soup­giv­ing is about more than shar­ing a meal — it’s about cre­at­ing a sense of belong­ing,” said Kate Schelbe, Back­bone Leader of the Teton Behav­ioral Health Alliance. ​“We want every­one to know there’s a place for them here. As peo­ple leave car­ry­ing their lanterns, our hope is that they also car­ry a lit­tle more light, con­nec­tion, and warmth into the sea­son ahead.”

Soup­giv­ing is made pos­si­ble with sup­port from the Com­mu­ni­ty Foun­da­tion of Jack­son Hole’s Behav­ioral Health Ini­tia­tive, Teton Behav­ioral Health Alliance, Jack­son Hole Trav­el & Tourism Board, St. John’s Health, Men­tal Health and Recov­ery Ser­vices of Jack­son Hole, and Teton Coun­ty School Dis­trict #1.

Soup part­ners include St. John’s Health, CWC Culi­nary Arts, TCSD#1 high school stu­dents, Street Food, and the Blue Col­lar Restau­rant Group. The meal will be round­ed out with bread, desserts, and bev­er­ages from the fol­low­ing food and bev­er­age part­ners: 460 Bread, Häa­gen-Dazs, Dulce Bak­ery, The Bread Bas­ket, and Sim­ply Baked. This is a dry event. No alco­hol will be served.

Teton Behav­ioral Health Alliance Steer­ing Com­mit­tee Members:

Cham­ber of Commerce/Häagen-Dazs｜Community Foun­da­tion of Jack­son Hole｜Community Safe­ty Network｜Gender Diver­si­ty Wyoming｜Jackson Police Department｜Mental Health and Recov­ery Ser­vices of Jack­son Hole｜St. John’s Health｜Teton Coun­ty Health Department｜Teton Coun­ty School Dis­trict #1｜The Men­tal Well­ness Collaborative｜Wyoming Immi­grant Advo­ca­cy Project

About Teton Behav­ioral Health Alliance

The Teton Behav­ioral Health Alliance works to improve the behav­ioral health care sys­tem in Teton Coun­ty, Wyoming at a sys­tems lev­el through high-lev­el, cross-sec­toral col­lab­o­ra­tion. As such, the Teton Behav­ioral Health Alliance facil­i­tates com­mu­ni­ty-wide actions that enhance pre­ven­tion, treat­ment, and cri­sis response efforts while address­ing the gaps and inequities in the sys­tem to ben­e­fit all who live and work in Teton Coun­ty. Well-being is not only a result of indi­vid­ual choic­es; it is also deter­mined by the qual­i­ty of con­nec­tions and con­nec­tiv­i­ty we have to oth­ers, our sense of belong­ing, and our abil­i­ty to access resources. The Teton Behav­ioral Health Alliance rec­og­nizes that togeth­er we have the pow­er to shape our expe­ri­ence and tra­jec­to­ry as a community.