Students in James Bosco’s Introduction to Hospitality course chopped onions and carrots, sautéed garlic and stirred stockpots full of soup - all for a good cause. 

The students assisted Doug Oster, home and garden editor for the Tribune-Review and author of EverybodyGardens.com, and Meghan Rodgers, food writer and editor for 535media and author of EverybodyCraves.com, as the two prepped their soups for the annual Soup for a Claus Event in Greensburg.

The event - which is a “Soup Crawl” - through downtown Greensburg restaurants and business, benefits the Tribune-Review’s Operation Santa Claus, which provides gifts and holiday meals for families in need. 

Oster - who cooked a Creamy Garlic Tomato Soup - and Rodgers - who cooked a Carrot Coconut Soup - created 600 servings of soup in the kitchen laboratory in the JoAnne Woodyard Boyle Health Sciences Center with the help of the students. 

“It would be impossible to do this at home,” Oster said. “I can’t say how much I appreciate this. It’s fun watching the students learning these cooking skills as well.”

Bosco said the students in the course benefit from hands-on experiences and visits from hospitality professionals.

“They are able to see through these experiences that there are thousands of jobs they can do in the hospitality industry,” said Bosco. “And, by helping with Soup for a Claus, the students get to understand the importance of giving back to the community, which is part of our mission as a Catholic institution.”