Save the date! United Way’s Empty Bowls will be held on Thursday, November 7 at 5:30p inside a NEW location at the West Virginia School of Osteopathic Medicine’s (WVSOM) Alumni Center in Lewisburg.

This event began in 1990 as an art class project in a Michigan high school to raise funds for a food drive. Students made ceramic bowls, served a meal of soup and bread, and invited guests to keep the bowl as a reminder of hunger in the world. By the following year the organizers had developed this idea into the Empty Bowls Project and established the imagine|RENDER Group, a 501(c)3 organization designed to promote the concept.

Since its inception, this simple project has evolved into a far-reaching program providing support for food banks, soup kitchens, and other organizations that fight hunger. These events have been held throughout the world, raising millions of dollars for use in combating hunger.

The basic idea for Empty Bowls is straightforward:

• Participants create ceramic bowls, then serve a simple meal of soup and bread.
• Guests choose a bowl to keep as a reminder that there are always Empty Bowls in the world.
• In exchange for a meal and the bowl, the Guest contributes a recommended minimum donation.
• The Meal Sponsor selects a hunger-fighting organization to receive the collected donations.
• Any organization fighting hunger qualifies.
• All funds raised under the name of Empty Bowls must be used for fighting hunger.

Erin Hurst, director of United Way of Greenbrier Valley, brought Empty Bowls to Greenbrier County in 2016. Register today to help combat hunger. Tickets are available online at UnitedWayGreenbrier.org/EmptyBowls.

– HashtagWV #118. October 2019.