Every night, one in six children, families and seniors go to bed hungry.
Grayson County Food Alliance, in partnership with the GCHS Art Department, is working to change that number through Empty Bowls, an event to raise awareness of and funds for local hunger issues.
The soup supper will be held Monday evening, February 12, from 4:00 until 7:00, at St. Joseph Catholic Church. Each guest will leave with one of the handcrafted, hand-painted bowls currently in the making, and which will serve as the symbolic centerpiece of the evening.
Board member Rita Stevenson, who also chairs the Alliance-sponsored Art in the Park each May, says the group has looked for several years at hosting a local Empty Bowls effort; with the help of the GCHS Art Department, that dream is now becoming a reality.
Student artists in Beverly Dowell’s Advanced Ceramics class have been “throwing, hand building and glazing a variety of bowls” since last November, according to Dowell.
Alliance Director Debbie Childress, and Board members Josh Dowell, Dennis Kiper and Stevenson recently stepped back into the classroom to try their hands at the wheel, crafting their own contribution to the collection. They received expert guidance from the students who have embraced this unique opportunity to use their talents to help feed their community.
“The Grayson County Alliance is so proud to partner with the Grayson County High School Art Department,” Childress said. “Ms. Dowell’s advanced pottery kids have been an amazing help for our Empty Bowls event, helping us advocate for the hungry and produce bowls for our event that night. We’re so proud to help them help us help the community.”
Empty Bowls is a national initiative, started in a single community in the early 1990s, when a high school ceramics teacher challenged his students to throw 120 bowls to raise awareness of hunger and poverty in the area. The first Empty Bowls luncheon was held at the school, and charged $5 per bowl to raise funds to fight hunger. The event was a success and soon people began duplicating it all over the country and, eventually, all over the world.
In addition to the one-of-a-kind, handcrafted items, white porcelain bowls painted by the students, local artists, and community members will also be available during the evening.
Attendees will be able to choose their own bowl, but should plan to come early for the best selection. Suggested donations are $25 for a handcrafted bowl and $10 for the hand-painted porcelain option. Businesses, clubs and individuals can also help support the event as a table sponsor.
Additional information is available on the Alliance Facebook page or by calling 270-259-4000.
(Headline photo: Elizabeth Goff (l) and Lauren Hack (r) touch up and perfect the bowls before they move on to the next step of the process)
By Grayson County Schools
