Not only is she the Souper Lady but Kimberley Ford is also one busy lady.

Ford, who has generated a reputation around Airdrie for helping families who are experiencing difficult times with meal preparation, has found plenty of families who've needed help in 2018, and, she's gotten lots of help from one Airdrie business.

Ford reached out to the couple whose son tragically passed away in the carbon monoxide leak in early February at an Airdrie apartment complex to see if they needed help with meals.  The couple agreed and Ford hit the pavement to seek out food donations.  That's when she approached Greg Fair the Manager of the Cooper's Promenade location of Save-On-Foods.

"I approached Greg, who's just absolutely amazing, to help me out.  I went up to him and I said, 'I'd like to make some meals for Jayla and Elisha because after losing a child or losing a loved one, the healing process doesn't end there so I want to help them out by making them some food.'  I was asking for a donation but he said 'I can do better than that for you, just grab a grocery cart and go get what you need to make the food for them and I'll take care of the rest.'  I've been absolutely blessed by Save-On-Foods, Greg and a lot of his staff."

Ford says she has worked with Save-On-Foods for several other endeavours, including catering the funeral of a young man in Airdrie and getting gourmet food items for a gift basket for the #strazstrong benefit auction.

Ford is also a regular contributor to Airdrie Angel, a program that gives people a hand up to those who've been through a difficult time or are living with challenging circumstances, preparing meals and donating gift baskets on a monthly basis.

Some people have taken note of Ford's benevolent gestures.  She was recently nominated in the Amazing Heart category in the Amazing Airdrie Women Awards where she finished as one of the top three.  Ford says she was humbled by the recognition.

"I received a phone call and I was quite shocked.  It was absolutely incredible.  I couldn't have been more humbled to be nominated with all those other amazing ladies.  We had a wonderful lunch at the Woodside Golf Course and spent the afternoon with some amazing ladies who do some awesome things for the community."

Ford has also been invited to be a panelist at this year's Success Summit in Airdrie on June 23rd and 24th.  

After so many hours of volunteering to help Airdronians, Ford has now been talked into starting her own business.  "The Souper Lady got really big," she says.  "It was never my intention to get as big as it did, but it did.  I was getting calls on a daily basis of people who love my food and asking if they could purchase it so I've decided to bite the bullet and gotten a business license and I've decided to start to sell soup and I'm going to start doing some catering in the community as well."

This weekend, Ford will be cooking home made Mexican food for lunch at the Whole Earth Market at the Woodside Seniors Club.

Ford intends to definitely keep her charitable work going.  She says, "Some life changing events made me realize what's important in life.  My family, my friends, my neighbours, my community.  People need help out there and even just a hot meal makes their day and puts a smile on their face.  Just a simple little gesture makes me feel good as a person and it puts a smile on somebodies face when somebody reaches out and does something unexpected.  That's why I do what I do."

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