Only 60 minutes of game time separate either the Colts or Saints from football immortality, players from the winning team’s names being etched forever in the annals of Super Bowl history.

Just as the NFL’s two best teams take to Miami’s Sun Life Stadium to battle for the sport’s top prize, hundreds of youth groups around the country are winding up a campaign of their own, hoping to give those less fortunate a boost in the game of life.

For the past 20 years, the Souper Bowl of Caring has used Super Bowl weekend as its stage to mobilize the nation’s youth to fight hunger and poverty in their local communities. Inspired by a prayer in 1990 by Spring Valley Presbyterian Church (Columbia) seminary intern Brad Smith in 1990, the community service project began with 22 Midlands churches collecting donations of money and canned goods at schools and other churches in the area. Nearly $6,000 was raised that first year, all given to Columbia-area nonprofit groups.

Now an annual campaign branching outside of the Palmetto State and the U.S., more than $62 million has been raised for soup kitchens, food banks and other charities in communities across the country. In fact, the Souper Bowl reached a national record high in contributions last year, bringing in approximately $10.3 million in cash and food.

“Hunger and poverty have a negative impact on individuals and the communities in which they live, yet there is joy in serving and giving to those in need,” reads the Souper Bowl of Caring Web site. “The excitement and energy surrounding the Super Bowl can be used to engage young people in service while producing lasting hope for all people.”

According to the Columbiabased group’s Web site, the project is off to a good start in 2010, having collected $1.3 million up to this point in the campaign.

Several local church youth groups have done their part to help out with this year’s Souper Bowl of Caring, donating more than $1,300 and in excess of 2,000 canned goods.

“The goal changes from year to year yet remains the same; we hope to do better with each passing year,” said Brooke Pressley, youth pastor at Limestone Presbyterian Church, one of the local churches participating in the annual service project. “It’s a fantastic ministry that allows donations to remain within the community or send funds and canned goods to Souper Bowl headquarters.”

Pressley said Limestone Presbyterian has participated in the project for as long as she has been a member of the local church. “It’s likely they were doing the Souper Bowl before I got here; our church has always been very generous and giving,” she said.

While most contributions are of the monetary variety, nonperishable goods like cereal, pasta, canned goods and other items can be donated. In addition to Limestone Presbyterian, other churches involved in this year’s Souper Bowl of Caring include Antioch, Cherokee Falls and Southside Baptist churches, and Buford Street United Methodist Church.