Waynesburg U. students fill ’empty bowls’ and a need in the community
Empty Bowls to help fight hunger
C.R. Nelson/For the Observer-Reporter
C.R. Nelson/For the Observer-Reporter
Waynesburg University students are shown during the 2017 Empty Bowls fundraiser.
Courtesy of Mitchell Kendra
This year, Empty Bowl program organizers have roughly 150 to 200 bowls in storage from previous years.
Courtesy of Community Foundation of Greene County
Several women look at artistic bowls during the Empty Bowls of Greene County project in 2015.
WAYNESBURG – Five years ago, Steve Snow, a Bonner scholar at Waynesburg University, initiated a program he discovered online called Empty Bowls.
With the help of fellow Bonner scholars, Snow launched the event meant to help give financial support to the Weekend Food Program in county schools. The project was so successful it’s been held annually ever since and is scheduled to return this year from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday at the National Guard Readiness Center, 500 Evergreen Drive in Waynesburg.
Last year, Jeb Brady, a Bonner scholar sophomore from St. Albans, W.Va., took part in the event. He started by joining other potters from both the university and the community to make 10 to 15 of the nearly 200 ceramic bowls used in the all-the-soup-you-can-eat fundraiser.
“Each of the bowls the potters make are different because they have each individual’s personal touch, but they also have a certain commonality,” Brady said. “Last year, I joined (the Empty Bowl project) because I always felt strongly about hunger, and it was a way for me to help out on the issue of hunger in Greene County.”
In partnership with the Community Foundation of Greene County, the Weekend Food program gives shelf-stable, child-friendly food items such as fruit juice, cereal, granola bars, apple sauce packets, cheese and crackers and pretzels to elementary school children in the county’s five districts.
The children are those identified by teachers, the school social worker or food service employees who look for signs showing a lack of adequate nutrition such as tiredness and crankiness. After a child is identified, the school district asks the parents for consent to have their child participate in the program. The five school districts need about $25,000 annually to serve about 140 children.
Brady said he felt last year’s event, which raised over $6,000 for the Weekend Food Program, accomplished the goal of raising community awareness about childhood hunger. He also felt confident enough to be one of this year’s volunteer event co-leaders, along with Collin Funkhouser and T. J. Hyland, both Waynesburg University sophomores.
“As leaders, the students reserve the event space, call for donations of soup and bread, organize a bowl making evening, collect donations for the Chinese auction and, in general, keep everything organized,” said Adrienne Tharp, coordinator of the Bonner Scholarship Program at the university.
Sourcing the variety of soups and bread ladled out at the event is one of the most crucial tasks. Everyone who attends Empty Bowls is given unlimited soup and bread along with a beverage and small dessert. At the end of the day, participants get to take home the bowl they chose upon arrival. They can purchase additional bowls as well as quarts of soup for $5.
Some of the soup for the event has already been donated by Aladdin, the university’s food service as well as Sodexo, the food service that provides meals for the Carmichaels School District cafeteria. Brady and his team of Bonner scholars are also working with Panera for donations of bread and are still trying to find other sources of soup donations and items for the Chinese auction.
“The biggest change this year is that we’ve moved the event from Sunday to Saturday,” Brady said. “While last year’s Empty Bowls went smoothly, many attendees came in after church. This year, we wanted to give them more free time to enjoy the event by changing the date to a Saturday.”
This year, organizers have roughly 150 to 200 bowls in storage from previous years. What’s more, additional bowls have come in from other Empty Bowl chapters in Morgantown, so the bowl making evening they usually conduct annually was curtailed this year.
“The bowls were made by people of all ages and skill sets, and each one is unique as to color, shape and design,” Tharp said.
Between 20 and 30 bowls have been made for this year’s Empty Bowls by Andrew Heisey, fine arts department chair, and some of his students. In the past, he and his pottery class have made as many as 70 to 80 bowls on bowl making evening.
“I love this event,” Heisey said. “It’s interesting to see how ceramics can do something for the community and be symbolic of filling the hunger issue here in the county.”
Empty Bowls tickets are $15 in advance and $20 at the door. They can be purchased in advance at various locations in town – the Community Foundation of Greene County, and the University Center for Service Learning – by check or cash. Donations can also be made if you cannot attend the event. All checks should be made out to: “Community Foundation of Greene County” with “Empty Bowls Tickets” on the memo line if you’ll be attending the event or “Empty Bowls Donation” if you can’t attend.
Waynesburg University is one of only 21 universities in the country to offer the Bonner Scholar Program. As a Bonner Scholar school, the university awards 15 new Waynesburg University Bonner Scholarships each academic year and maintains a program with 60 students, who each receive financial support in exchange for an average of 10 hours of community service per week.
For more information on Empty Bowls or to make a donation, phone Waynesburg University’s Bonner Scholarship program at 724-852-3460.