(Bowls for Bellies)

By Alessia Proietti

School Lunch Program

Inspired by father’s experience with homelessness, Bowls for Bellies raises over $30,000 for Mustard Seed program

Nov 15, 2022 | 3:33 PM

A hungry person thinks of eating a bowl of soup until the bottom can be seen. But for many kids, the bottom of the bowl is all they’ve ever known.

Red Deer’s second Bowls for Bellies Soup Cook-Off, held on Nov. 6 at Hunting Hills High School, surpassed their goal of fundraising $31,000 for The Mustard Seed’s school lunch program as 16 local restaurants competed to win the Bowly Grail “Best Soup in the City” trophy.

The school lunch program delivers over 10,000 lunches per month to students enrolled in 49 schools across central Alberta, with an average of 550 lunches made and delivered daily, according to The Seed (6002 54 Ave). Jillian Vukovich, founder of Bowls for Bellies, says in early November, with the addition of a new school and 55 lunches, the Seed broke their record of making 635 lunches in one day.

For Vukovich, philanthropy has always been a family value, she says, as her father, Terry Grant, experienced homelessness as a young man.

“He had always shared with me that it was spaces like the Mustard Seed that clothed him and fed him and supported him and allowed him to continue his personal growth in life. He ended up becoming a really successful entrepreneur and had a great family”, she said.

Last seen March 31

Missing: Eugenie Headman, 66, of Maskwacis

Apr 04, 2026

mayor hopes to meet housing minister this month

Alberta demands Ottawa back off on housing funding stripped from Red Deer

Apr 02, 2026

Last seen Jan. 15

Missing: Courtney Cattleman, 17, of Maskwacis

Apr 02, 2026

After her father hitchhiked from Ontario to British Columbia during his time of homelessness, she says he eventually began his business of designing and maintaining retail outlets across the country.

“I think that there’s a really unfair stigma about homelessness and poverty and I just really thought that this was a great platform to be able to share a story of, not every scenario and not every person that needs some help is suffering with a massive addiction,” she said, explaining her father suffered from an abusive home.

“I think people need to recognize that there are all kinds of avenues and reasons that lead to an endpoint and I’m sure every single one of us can’t say that we haven’t made a poor decision and sometimes those poor decisions hit harder with certain people.”

Initially from Ontario herself, Vukovich and her husband moved to Red Deer in 2014 to work in the oil field as financial times were tough back home, she says. Although quickly hitting a recession, Vukovich states she began a financial planning practice, and built a life where the remainder of her family, including her father, soon followed.

In 2019, she started the Bowls for Bellies fundraiser, held at The Seed with the proceeds to be split between The Seed’s hot meal and school lunch program. Raising roughly $8,000, she says the pandemic caused the event to be postponed the following two years.

This year, she says not only did they triple their 2021 profits through donations and sponsorships, but they also had a turnout of roughly 50 more attendees for a total of nearly 230 guests, alongside live music, a raffle and prizes.

After feeling the financial pinch from the birth of her first child and discovering that The Seed’s hot meal program receives some government funding unlike the school lunch program, she decided this year’s funds would be donated in full to the latter program.

In addition, the first 325 attendees were able to pick a ceramic bowl of their choice hand-painted by Aspen Heights Elementary School students.

Aspen Heights Elementary School students painting ceramic bowls for Bowls for Bellies fundraiser (Supplied)

“The bowls are important for me for a few reasons. The kids get involvement, which is important because it’s their peers receiving the food and I think that they need to know that this exists. It’s a key takeaway for guests and hopefully something that they use and look at throughout the year”, she said, adding that she hopes the bowls remind people to continue to donate and volunteer in the program year-round to help solve the issue.

READ: The Mustard Seed thanked big-time for continuing school lunch program