Empty Bowls is serving up a tasty fundraiser
Artbeat Gallery owner Linda Winegar is deciding which big bowl to donate to the Empty Bowls Greene County silent auction April 19 at the Greene County Fairgrounds.
From left, Becca Shindlar, Katelyn Hunsicker and professor Andrew Heisel inspect some of the bowls made by students and faculty for the Empty Bowls Greene County luncheon April 19 at the Greene County Fairgrounds.
In 1990, John Hartom, a Michigan art teacher, added some creative spice to a community fundraiser when his high school students made ceramic bowls that were then used to serve up a simple meal of soup and bread.
Contributing guests kept their bowls as a reminder of all the empty bowls in the world. The idea caught on, and Empty Bowls is now an international grassroots effort that brings artists, students, teachers and cooks together to raise money for local food banks or projects that address hunger in the community.
This year, Empty Bowls Greene County is serving up a tasty fundraiser with an artistic twist at the Greene County Fairgrounds, beginning at 11:30 a.m. April 19.
There will be tables of ceramic bowls, hand-crafted by Waynesburg University students and local professionals. Artists and local businesses also have donated work for the silent auction that will be ongoing, and students will be turning lumps of clay into bowls, cups and jars.
Dan Wagner, Greene County Career and Technology director and culinary arts instructor, has a variety of homemade soups to fill your bowl, and baskets of Rising Creek Bakery artisan breads will be on every table. When lunch is over, the bowl is yours to take home to remember that nothing says hunger like an empty bowl.
In 2014, the Waynesburg University Bonner Scholar program chose Empty Bowls Greene County as a community service project. Students partnered with the Community Foundation of Greene County to support and sustain the Weekend Food Program for students in the county’s school districts.
“Each district provides nutrition for children over the weekend who may not be able to get good meals outside of school,” foundation director Bettie Stammerjohn said. “All the money raised through Empty Bowls goes back to the schools to buy this food.”
Last year’s event raised $3,665, Stammerjohn said.
In January, the Empty Bowls committee of more than a dozen Bonner Scholars, led by human services major Becca Shindelar, organized a Friday night gathering in the ceramics studio that gave any student the opportunity to make a bowl and donate it to the luncheon.
Next Sunday, the bowls will be waiting to be filled and some of the students and local artists who made them will be there to enjoy lunch, talk about their trade and maybe take a turn at the wheel to show diners how it’s done.
Artbeat Gallery owner Jim Winegar and his wife, Linda, are donating at least 40 freshly turned bowls and a large platter for the silent auction.
“We were involved with Empty Bowls in Pittsburgh a number of years ago and are excited to have it in Greene County,” Jim Winegar said.
Tickets for Empty Bowls Greene County are $15 in advance, $20 at the door and include the bowl to take home.
Lunch is served starting at noon, and the event ends at 2:30 p.m. Children 12 and younger eat for free but don’t receive a handmade bowl.
For more information or to purchase tickets on campus, email Shindelar at shi2526@student.waynesburg.edu. Tickets also are available at the Community Foundation of Greene County, 108 E. High St., Waynesburg, and Artbeat Gallery, 52 E. High St.
Those who can’t make it to Empty Bowls can donate online at www.cfgcpa.org.