Empty Bowls Help Fill A Warehouse
Posted on March 31, 2011 by bob in Features
by Henrietta MacGuire
photos by Bob Corley
Unfired bowls await the kiln.
According to a United Nations report, more than half the world’s population goes to bed hungry each night. Fortunately, the situation is not that dire in Alabama, though hunger in our area persists. Directly confronting this problem is the Montgomery Area Food Bank supported by a host of businesses and contributors, including the Empty Bowls project, which, like so many brilliant ideas, had a casual beginning.
Empty Bowls was an art assignment at a high school in Michigan. Students decided to make ceramic bowls to sale to raise money for a local food bank. The venture caught on, prospered and spread. Other schools took it up, and then organizations in neighboring states began to experiment with the concept.
Margaret Barber prepares bowls for the Empty Bowls project.
Montgomery artist and potter Margaret Barber, a member of the Alabama Clay Conference, had been approached year after the year to contribute some of her work to an Empty Bowls fundraiser. Investigating the project, she realized it was a unique way to raise money for soup kitchens, food banks and other organizations attacking the problem of hunger. Five years ago she decided Montgomery needed an Empty Bowls project.
“Since Montgomery is the capital,” said Barber, “I thought we should set an example for the rest of the state.”
Barber persuaded local potters to create and donate handcrafted bowls to be sold to help the Montgomery Area Food Bank, then organized volunteers so the community would have an annual event directly supporting those fighting hunger.
“I’m not from here,” Barber says, “but my home town, Jackson, Mississippi, is a lot like Montgomery, same size with many of the same attitudes. So I feel at home here and that’s why it wasn’t too hard to get the local potters to start our Empty Bowls project. Potters, in general, are community-minded and quite generous, and every one of them has done every single thing I’ve ever asked.”
Art students from Prattville High, Montgomery Catholic Preparatory School and the LAMP Programs are making bowls for the project while at the same time learning about international food problems. These volunteers will also set up tables and chairs for the meal and clean up when the event is over.
A new Empty Bowls feature this year is the silent auction. Local artists are contributing paintings, drawings, sculptures and pottery, and the community businesses are providing goods and services. All proceeds from the auction go to the Food Bank. Margaret Barber says the auction shows how the project has grown.
“Five years ago we began with 50 bowls for sale,” said Barber. “Now we’re planning on at least 300. And it’s being done with a lot of help. The community has been wonderful.”
Jolene Kearns, Fund Raising and Programs Manager for the Montgomery Area Food Bank, emphasizes the strength of a single dollar in fighting hunger.
Montgomery Area Food Bank warehouse. (L-R) Carey Welch, Warehouse Manager; Jolene Kearns; Bob Lohman, Assistant Warehouse Driver; Richard Edwards, Transportation Coordinator.
“With every dollar we collect,” she says, “we can provide six and a half pounds of food. So if the average meal consists more or less of one pound of food, with one dollar we can offer our people six and a half meals. And that’s fortunate because there’s a growing need for food with the economic downturn leaving more and more people out of work. So the contributions from Empty Bowls are an enormous help.”
The Empty Bowls event is Tuesday, April 12, at the Church of the Holy Spirit on Vaughn Road. Tickets are $25 and include a simple meal of soup and bread. Attendees select an original ceramic bowl which they take home to remind them of the purpose of the event.
“People seem to like the communal aspect of Empty Bowls” said Kearns. “They are at the church visiting with friends while enjoying a nice lunch and contributing to a very worthwhile cause. And everybody gets to take home a reminder that there are empty bowls in our community.”
The Montgomery Area Food Bank, through an extensive network of non-profits, distributes food to 37 counties in Alabama.
For tickets contact Catherine Preston, 334-396-1846, or e-mail emptybowls1@gmail.com. For information about the event, volunteering, donations, and contributing organizations, contact Terri Mendez at 334-657-6575.
