Empty Bowls

In six years Empty Bowl has fed chousands,
fc started as a school fundraiser for che local
foodbank in Bloomfield, MI. John Harton
asked his high-school ceramic students to
make enough bowls to give a luncheon for
the school staff. For $5 each, the guests
received a simple meal of soup and bread,
served in one of the handmade bowls.
Guests were asked to accept their now
empty bowls as a gift and to keep chem as a
reminder of all che ermpey bowls chat still
need filling.

Everyone in che room was moved to tears.
There and then the energy of che people in
that room breathed life into what has
become the Empty Bowls project. Since
then groups of potters have raised and
donated ever $1,000,000 (LIS! to
organizations fighting hunger.

The premise of Empey Bowls is profoundly
simple and has been repeaced many
thousands of times by small groups as well as
large. A few people get togecher to create
bowls. They invite guests, as many as chey
have bowls, to share a simple meal of soup
and bread and oo donace a small sum which
will go to provide food to those in need. In
return, guests take home the bowl they have
eaten their soup in as a reminder of
continuing hunger in the world.

‘Each sponsoring group chooses whatever
organization they prefer to choose their
denation. Information does indicate that
90% of the money raised goes co local
agencies. Often a member of the receiving
agency will speak during the meal to explain
their work and to inform participants about
hunger in their community. The founders
are convinced that this is one of keys to
success of Empry Bowls. [c allows people to
“think globally and act locally”, so chey can
see first hand how their money will be used.
In most cases, individuals and businesses in
the area have donated the soups and other
needed food and supplies. Otherwise part
of the money raised has gone to cover
expenses.

Another key factor in the success of Empey
Bowls is the fact thar chose who want to
take part must design their own projecc.
Many people follow the basic formar, and
simply sponsor a meal, Others such as the
Cranbrook Educational Community, have

done much more.

At Cranbrook, teachers Doug and Sharon
Cooper tumed Empty Bowls into a three-
month campus wide acuiviry addressing
the issue of hunger. Every stodene and
every teacher was given the opportunity to
create a bowl. In the end they made mote
than 1000 bowls out of clay, papier-
mache, glass, wood, drawings and metal
and then invited the public co an evening
meal, Local jazz musicians performed
while studenss served soup and cleared
tables. They raised nearly $20,000 thar

evening,

Elementary school teacher Sherry Zietlin
took a difference approach. She worked
with her students to make bowls, hold a
meal and rae money. She chen took her
students, money in hand, to a local
grocery store, where they bought the food
for those in meed im their town,
Scottsdale, AZ. They discussed hunger,
math and nutrition as they chase the food.
The store owner was so moved by this chat
he matched their $500. Since then che
Mesa Arts Center and many other potters
from the area have held annual Empry

Bowls events.

The Maryland Food Committee in
Baltimore, in collaboration with potrers
from their community, have also made
Empcy Bowls an annual event. They
include an auction, performances, and
“celebrity bowls", where the potters make
and biscwit bowls and then invite local
celebrities to decorare. In 1995 they
raised $45,000. Members of another
potter's group donated the money they
raised to a new women's shelter,

Oxfam has held Empty Bowl events in
collaboration with che United Nazions in
New York and for the US Congress. A
group of ten pre-schoolers ar a church has
also held one, where the kids say they
have collected “sixty-one dollars....s0 far.”
Empey Bowl booths are fixtures at many
local art fairs.

In 1995 an offshoot of che project, called
the Empty Bowls Community Gardens was
started. Wich the food grown im these
gardens, agencies feeding the hungry can
offer their clients fresh fruits and
vegetables that they otherwise might noc
have access to.

Page 9

Through the collective efforts of
thousands of individuals all around che
world, many more thousands have been
touched by this project. Empry Bowls has
funded many food pantries that have in
turn fed many hungry people. Participants
and organizers, both children and adule,
have become more aware of the hunger all
around us, and every Empry Bowls event
strengthens the ties of community,

The United Nations estimates that over |
billion people are hungry in the world
every day. Or one out of six. Almost
49,000 children die each day from
malnutrition and preventable hunger
related causes —as if nearly everybody in
West Vancouver died in one day. Yer the
children's dearhs are hardly noticed. In
the United States, 18 - 20 million people
are so poor that they do mot get the
nutrients they need each month. These
are huge numbers, but you needn't be
overwhelmed by them. Enough small
scale actions become large ones!

Lisa Blackburn & John Harton

[f sou are interested in holdoys an Empey
Bowls event, the Guild has 2 package of
information with logos, facts and many
helpful suggestions for organizing, depending
on whether you are doing the event as an
indinidual, a schoel, a church, or a
professional organization, The current
suggested bre! price is $10. Contact Karen
at 874-7134 if you want the package sent to
spate.