Empty Bowls is presented by Second Harvest Food Bank of Clark, Champaign and Logan Counties with presenting sponsor Kroger.
Students, staff and faculty at Wittenberg under the direction of Professor of Art Scott Dooley and Springfield High School art students have been busy creating the ceramic bowls over the past several weeks. For a $20 donation or $10 for ages 12-under, participants can have unlimited soup selections from a variety of local vendors along with bread and take home the bowl of their choice.
Cliff Park High students are also contributing again for sponsors with wooden spoons that are laser-engraved.
Second Harvest marketing and events specialist Allie Godfrey said the local event is working its way back to pre-COVID-19 pandemic levels. There were 450 participants in 2024 and she hopes for around 500 on Thursday.
“We’re always really impressed with the quality and the good variety of the bowls we get,” she said. “Some people even choose to buy a whole set of bowls.”
Godfrey recognizes the importance of individual donations as Second Harvest’s largest revenue stream.
“It’s always a huge help when people donate every year,” she said.
The need for the fight against food insecurity is still great in the area. In 2024, more than 56,000 people received assistance in the three counties, with nearly five million pounds of food equal to nearly four million meals going to the needy.
OTHER DETAILS
The Champaign County Empty Bowls event will be 5-8 p.m. April 2 at The Farmer’s Daughter restaurant in Urbana and the Logan County event 5-8 p.m. April 3 at The Flying Pepper Cantina in Bellefontaine. These will be in a soup crawl format where guests will be invited to visit multiple restaurants to sample their soups.
For more information on Empty Bowls or Second Harvest, go to www.facebook.com/2ndHarvestOH/.
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