Cristin Cooper
Coop’s Soups
Oliney, Maryland
Loneliness is increasingly recognized not simply as an emotional experience, but as a justice issue. Communities shaped by poverty, displacement, racism, aging, disability, and chronic underinvestment are more likely to experience isolation as gathering spaces disappear and social networks fragment. Access to belonging is not evenly distributed.
Coop’s Soups addresses both loneliness and food insecurity by using food as a catalyst for connection, dignity, and mutual care. What began in 2018 as a dinner church gathering in Cristin’s Maryland apartment has grown into a farmer’s-market–based soup enterprise rooted in ministry, hospitality, and shared abundance.
Rather than opening a traditional storefront, Cristin chose to sell soup at local farmer’s markets to foster direct, face-to-face connection with neighbors. Every interaction becomes an opportunity for conversation, recognition, and community-building.
About Cristin Cooper
Cristin Cooper is the founder of Coop’s Soups, a community-centered social enterprise based in Olney, Maryland, that addresses loneliness and food insecurity through shared food and intentional relationship-building. A licensed local pastor in the Baltimore-Washington Conference of the United Methodist Church, she focuses on Fresh Expressions of church that meet people where they are. Cristin holds a Master of Divinity from Wesley Theological Seminary and brings theological depth and entrepreneurial creativity to her work of cultivating connection around the table.
Coop’s Soups
Coop’s Soups operates on a “soup to share” framework. Vegan, gluten-free soups made with locally sourced vegetables are sold at farmer’s markets, generating earned revenue that sustains the enterprise. At the same time, soups are intentionally made for donation to local food banks and elsewhere,, embedding generosity into the production plan rather than treating it as an afterthought. This dual commitment ensures that every batch supports both financial viability and community nourishment.
Each container is intentionally labeled to encourage sharing, reinforcing the belief that food is meant to move outward into relationship. Monthly communal cooking gatherings invite volunteers into the process, transforming customers into collaborators and deepening the relational fabric that holds the project together. Sales, donations, and volunteer participation together create a hybrid model—commercially viable yet explicitly communal.
Addressing an Unjust System
Loneliness and food insecurity are not isolated conditions; they are symptoms of structural inequity. When neighborhoods lose gathering spaces, affordable food access, and relational infrastructure, isolation deepens.
Coop’s Soups responds by rebuilding micro-ecosystems of belonging. In spring 2026, Cristin will launch a neighborhood community garden, further addressing local food insecurity while creating a shared green space for cultivation, education, and connection. The garden extends the project’s theology of abundance: food grown together, prepared together, and shared widely.
At its core, Coop’s Soups reimagines what church, business, and community can look like when they are intentionally intertwined. It is not simply a soup company. It is a distributed table—appearing at farmer’s markets, in donated meals, and in shared gardens—where strangers become neighbors and neighbors become collaborators.
Through soup, Cristin Cooper is rebuilding the social fabric one ladle at a time.
