When it comes to feeding the hungry, Wittenberg did not come up empty. Its 31st annual Empty Bowls Event in March drew a record number of participants to its fundraiser for the Second Harvest Food Bank, which serves Clark, Logan, and Champaign counties.
Empty Bowls encourages members of the public to buy student-made ceramic bowls and then attend an event to serve a meal of soup and bread in the bowls. In exchange for the bowl and meal, guests are encouraged to give a minimum of $20. The sponsor then chooses a local hunger-fighting organization to receive the money collected.
According to Scott Dooley, Wittenberg's professor of art who oversees the fundraiser, $39,242 was raised for the Second Harvest Food Bank. Dooley says this equates to 196,210 meals for those in need. This 31-year fundraising total is now exceeding $705,785, surpassing last year's whopping $666,543.
The Second Harvest Food Bank is a program ran by Catholic Charities, and it also recieves all of the funds raised from this event. According to the Wittenberg website, Empty Bowls has earned more than $500,000 for the food bank.
Bowls were originally made by various staff, faculty, and other community members as the names Dooley list are: Carol Culbertson, Scott Dooley, Susan Finster, Ted Vander Roest; Wittenberg Students, Dawson Smith, Erin Reichert, Jillian Paskvan Sage Wilke, Aaron Miller, Paige Rudolf, Olivia Hamilton Ashley James, and Matt Kehlbeck.
Wittenberg University’s Art Department has hosted Empty Bowl Events since 1994. Originally, Kate (Dumon) Runyon, a ceramics major took the initiative to start the project. The event has since grown from 100 bowls to 1,000. The bowls that are created during the event are made by Wittenberg staff, students, faculty and any other area potters interested.
For more information please visit the Wittenberg University website.
