A Decade of Impact: Mimi Dyer's pivotal contribution to La Soupe's founding
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MIMI DYER WORKS THROUGH BOXES OF DONATIONS AT THE ROUNDBOTTOM LOCATION OF LA SOUPE.
Mimi Dyer was just looking for something to do. She ended up playing a massive role in feeding millions.
“I was getting ready for my youngest daughter to graduate high school. I didn’t want to be the empty nester with nothing to do,” she said, remembering she had just read an article about La Soupe in 2015 and called the organization to offer herself as a volunteer.
“Honestly, by the end of the article, I picked up the phone, and I called to see if I could volunteer because I was so very interested in finding out what (founder) Suzy (DeYoung) was doing and how I could help.”
At that time, La Soupe was a for-profit organization offering a free soupe to those in need for each soupe sold. There was too much soupe left over and too many hungry kids in our city, so the decision was made to become a nonprofit in 2015.
Mimi, La Soupe’s first volunteer, said she had some experience with other nonprofit organizations and eagerly jumped in. She spent roughly 20 to 30 hours a week as a volunteer, helping the business side of La Soupe come to fruition as a nonprofit.
“I did that, and I loved every minute of it,” Mimi said with a smile on her face. “And that’s how it got started.”
A core team of primarily volunteers assembled—Julie Richardson, Petra Vester, Lisa Wharton, and Carolyn Collette worked alongside Suzy and Mimi to make the organizational switch from for-profit to not-for-profit.
Later that year, Kroger in Mariemont began sharing its surplus food each week with La Soupe, proving further that this idea could work.
MIMI DYER AND FOUNDER OF LA SOUPE,
SUZY DEYOUNG.
“Suzy reached out to Lynn Marmer, who is now retired at Kroger,” Mimi recalled. “She was the real pivot for us to get Kroger on board. Getting her on board was really key. I was one of the people who went to Kroger. Many times, the staff in the produce section were really excited not to be throwing it away.”
Mimi said La Soupe’s decade of success would not have been possible without Suzy’s network.
“Suzy’s background in the chef community and her catering business, which really focused on high-end clientele, was paramount for our success,” she said. “She had a donor base that was set up because of the work she had done feeding these people in the previous 20 years. They trusted her, and they knew the product coming out of the kitchen would be good. She had a base of supporters that I don’t think many nonprofits start with.”
Mimi’s journey from a volunteer at La Soupe has evolved. She has helped us establish our identity and served as a leader on our Board of Directors. She was most proud of using our tagline, Rescue | Transform | Share as the primary program that donors could support.
“In a nonprofit world, you name things,” Mimi said. “ So turning that into our main mission gave people something to give to, which was a game changer, and it worked.”
As her tenure on the board comes to an end, she reflected fondly on La Soupe's accomplishments over the years. That small army of volunteers has grown to over 800 active food runners, kitchen helpers, and teachers, alongside 42 staff members. She’s excited about the partnerships and awareness La Soupe is generating.
From simmering soupe in a 900-square-foot space on Round Bottom Rd. to creating full-blown meals in our 16,000-square-foot space in Walnut Hills, her grit and determination have helped pave the way for La Soupe to create sustainable change in our community. Since 2015, the nonprofit organization has rescued 7 million pounds of surplus food from hundreds of community partners and transformed it into 4.5 million servings for those in the greater Cincinnati area and beyond.
