BY AUDRA ORGANETTI
SC Contributing Writer
Created by The Imagine Render Group, Empty Bowls is an international grassroots effort to fight hunger.
Imagine Render is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization that strives to create positive and lasting social change through the arts, education, and projects that build community.
The concept of Empty Bowls is simple: potters, students, faculty, staff, crafts people, and members of the community all join together to make hand crafted ceramic bowls.
After the bowls are formed, fired in the kiln, painted with glaze, and refried in the kiln they are ready to be used.
Once the bowls are ready, guests with tickets are invited to a simple meal of soup and bread.
After their meal guests are asked to keep a bowl as a reminder of all the empty bowls in the world.
The money raised is donated to an organization working to end hunger and food insecurity.
The sixth annual Empty Bowls Fundraiser will be held on Thursday, March 27 in the Keystone Room from 11:30 AM to 1 PM, hosted by ESU’s Hotel, Restaurant, Tourism Management Department along with Hotel and Restaurant Club, Club Management class, Dr. Brad Seid’s Recreation Seminar class and Professor Joni Oye-Benintende’s ceramics class.
The fundraiser benefits the lower income families in the Stroudsburg Area. All donations will be sent to the Stroudsburg Salvation Army Food Bank.
The Imagine Render Group stated on their website that, “We could never have imagined all the things people have done or all the ways the project has touched people” now events have taken place across the United States and in at least a dozen other countries.
Many millions of dollars have been raised and donated to hunger-fighting organizations.
The Imagine Render Group only has one request when hosting an Empty Bowls Fundraiser, that request is: “Each individual or group organizing an event designs it around the needs of their own community and is responsible for their own event. We ask that all such events are called Empty Bowls so that the idea can continue to spread. Please make your event inclusive, insist that it maintain a high level of integrity, include an educational component to raise awareness, and give the money raised to an organization helping to feed people in need,” ESU is taking a single effort can have a profound impact.
Tickets cost $10, to purchase tickets please see Linda in the HRTM Department (across from Stroud), call 570-422-3511, or contact a Hotel and Restaurant Club member. After soup, enjoy your bowl for many days after as a reminder of the effort you made to make a change in our community.
Email Audra at:
aao3063@live.esu.edu