Tradition Still Alive As Emily Griffith Students Are Served Free Soup

DENVER (CBS4) - Hundreds of students got free soup at school this week.

The free meals were served on Wednesday at Emily Griffith Technical College and High School in downtown Denver.

The school's founder, Emily Griffith, started the tradition of serving soup to students nearly a century ago.

"She realized students were coming in for school and hadn't eaten and many of them had no food, so every day she would serve soups to the students," said Tisha Corbett, the school's Director of Student Services.

Additional Resources

The following information about the tradition is provided by Emily Griffith Technical College.

The custom began in response to a boy fainting in class one evening. Emily felt he fainted because he was hungry; and if he was hungry, probably others were as well. For years, Emily's mother prepared soup at home and Emily and her sister Florence carried it to school in a pail. Two hundred bowls of soup were served each evening, and Emily and Florence washed all the dishes themselves. Nobody who came to study at the school left hungry.