A New York-based nonprofit is hosting Super Bowl parties in dozens of cities nationwide with one important mission: to create a “safe space” for people experiencing homelessness.
These “Super Soul” parties started in 2017 after social media activist and New York filmmaker Meir Kay saw a man on the street holding a sign that read: “I don’t want food, I don’t want a drink, I just want to be seen.”
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Kay told Fox News that he was all too familiar with the feeling of wanting to be seen.
Meir Kay’s Super Soul Party is dedicated to creating a safe space for the homeless on Super Bowl Sunday.
(Super Soul Party)
“From experiences in my own life, I knew what it felt like not to be seen and … misunderstood and when I saw that sign it just touched that part of me,” he said. “That human need of wanting to be seen and heard and loved. I believe It’s every human’s right to have those things in their life.”
It just so happened to be around the time of the Super Bowl that year when “people are getting connected with family or friends,” Kay said.
Meir Kay’s Super Soul Party is dedicated to creating a safe space for the homeless on Super Bowl Sunday.
(Super Soul parties )
“It’s like an unofficial holiday” and “for someone who doesn’t have that community or family connection, it can make it feel that much more alone,” he added.
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That year, Kay walked around New York City and invited six people who were homeless to a local Super Bowl party filled with food and drinks.
What the party did, Kay said, was help these men and women “see themselves as people.”
Meir Kay’s Super Soul Party is dedicated to creating a safe space for the homeless on Super Bowl Sunday.
(Super Soul Party )
Each year since, Kay’s nonprofit, SuperSoulParty, has created even more parties around the nation in order to help homeless people while also raising awareness of the issues they face on Super Bowl Sunday.
Each party facilitates “moments of connection between guests with homes and without, serving hot, nourishing food, giving warm clothing, offering haircuts and providing housing and social services at every event,” according to the nonprofit’s website.
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Meir Kay’s Super Soul Party is dedicated to creating a safe space for the homeless on Super Bowl Sunday.
(Super Soul Party)
For the next two years, in 2018 and 2019, it held parties in New York and Los Angeles. By 2020, the organization held parties in 20 cities around the country.
For 2022, it’s hosting Super Soul parties in 36 cities. Eventually, the ultimate goal is to be able to host multiple events in all 50 states.
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“This jump-started something that never in a million years did I think I would be running this nonprofit with parties in 36 cities across the country five years later,” Kay said.
Meir Kay’s Super Soul Party is dedicated to creating a safe space for the homeless on Super Bowl Sunday.
(Super Soul Party)
On top of hosting Super Soul parities, Kay hopes to host additional events throughout the year “to help cater to that human connection.”
