Empty Bowls of Owensboro is having a community bowl making day from 10 a.m. to noon Sept. 28 at the Brescia University Clay Lab located at 105 E 9th St. The bowl making day is free and open to the public. Empty Bowls is a local organization that is dedicated to the national effort of feeding the hungry. Funds are raised through an annual event and are provided to local shelters, churches and other organizations that aid in the effort.
At this bowl making day, members of the community will be able to create bowls that are used to serve soup in at the annual Empty Bowls dinner and silent auction. Attendees at the dinner, which will be held in April 2020, will select a handmade ceramic bowl to keep and take home. Hundreds of handcrafted bowls are made especially for this event by local artisan students and community members through these bowl-making events. Each participant will then use their selected bowl to receive one of a variety of soups made available by local chefs and churches.
In 2005, Steve Driver, an art and clay professor at Brescia University, was inspired to bring the initiative to the Owensboro community after experiencing programs in other cities. Through the work and support of volunteers, the very first event brought in more than $2,000 and Tenth Street Baptist Church was chosen to receive the funds for their soup kitchen. Since then, the event has been held annually and over the past 13 years has raised more than $60,000 to help feed the hungry in Owensboro and Daviess County. The initiative and community involvement has continued to grow over the past 14 years, with the most recent recipient, Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church, receiving more than $9,000 for their backpack ministry program.
For more information on Empty Bowls, contact Rachel Whelan at [email protected] or 270.686.2110.