Empty Bowls 102817

Photos by Mary Alice Murphy, unless otherwise marked in the photo description. Included are photos by Anna Harding and Judy Menefee.

Empty Bowls, a fundraiser for the Food Pantry at The Commons, The Volunteer Center's facility, brought out more than 300 supporters choosing a bowl and having it filled with chicken, vegetarian or chili soup.

The Coordinating Committee was made up of Judy Menefee, Anna Harding and Zoe Wolfe, who did the planning and helped put on the event. According to Harding, on Saturday, the volunteers served more than 300 bowls of soup and raised more than $8,500 for the Food Pantry.

The event required many months of planning and work and involved various community members during the several month-long process. In July, during the Clay Festival, on July 22, 2017, those interested in creating clay bowls for the event came together at Syzygy Tile, which donated the clay, to create bowls with shapes and designs of their choice.

After the bowls had dried, a glazing workshop took place, also at Syzygy Tile, for some of the same participants and new ones to glaze the bowls with a variety of colors and patterns. Syzygy, a critical and much-appreciated partner in the process, agreed to fire the bowls.

What those who came out on Saturday, Oct. 28, 2017 to eat soup in the no-longer empty bowls saw and chose from were the results of the many community-involved events leading up to the Empty Bowls lunch.