Stone Soup was founded by two sisters, Jody Buckley and Betty Buckley, in the hopes of using their experiences and talents to help rural women in the Northwest. Betty and Jody have designed programs that are intended to provide a boost to rural communities and the women who reside in them. Arista Hageman, Sikander Jaad, Daniale Harbick and Megan Oczkewicz (all sisters in spirit!) round out the Stone Soup team. We believe that our family of women can help the greater family of women.

The Buckley’s have deep rural roots. Their father's family homesteaded in Chesaw, a tiny community in north central Okanogan County, Washington. The Buckley sisters (all five of them!) were raised in Kettle Falls, a small town in the Selkirk Mountains of Northeastern Washington. Betty Buckley attended Eastern Washington University before moving over to western Washington to spend 15 years working in state agencies. After 20 years in western Washington, Betty has found her way back home to rural eastern Washington and resides in Keller, a small town located in Ferry County.

Stone Soup is also a philosophy. A favorite fairy tale around the Buckley household was the story of an old soldier looking for food. The soldier enters a village that is reluctant to share their food for fear of starvation of their own individual families. He tells the people of the village that he can make soup from a stone. "Humph!" think the people, "this we've got to see!" One villager put on a large kettle of water, and the old soldier adds a plain looking stone. After a while he tastes the soup. "Mmmm!" he says, "This is beginning to taste very good! However, it would be better with some onions." Another villager finds some onions, and then another villager adds potatoes, and then a few carrots…well, you get the idea. As individuals, the villagers were going hungry, yet working together as a community fed them all in abundance. We believe that everyone can contribute something towards the greater good, and that’s what we hope we are doing with our work.