The sixth annual Empty Bowls Project will be held from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Tuesday, March 24 at the Brownwood Coliseum.
At the event, hosted by Good Samaritan Ministries, for a $10 ticket, diners can choose a hand-painted ceramic bowl and then enjoy a simple meal of soup and water. Those attending are able to take the empty bowl home as a reminder of those in our own community and around the world who have empty bowls and empty stomachs. Tickets are available at GSM, the Runaway Train and Dr. Carol Boren’s office.
Again this year, for a $25 ticket, there will be a bowl preview allowing the ticket holder to enter the coliseum from 9:30 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. for first pick of the bowls. There are only 50 of these tickets available at Good Samaritan Ministries, 305 Clark Street.
“The Empty Bowls Project has become the largest fundraising event that we host all year,” said Executive Director, Angelia Bostick. “It incorporates so many friends and faces in the community from painting and glazing the bowls to donating soup and sponsorships.”
Some bowls are sent to art classes at area schools and universities. Others go to local nursing homes. Some are painted by church groups, others by businesses and still others by groups who signed up to paint on location at Good Samaritan Ministries.
“It’s always a good thing when we can get people who have never been inside the building to come in and see that it’s really a well-kept, clean, inviting space,” said Bostick. “We like to take every opportunity to share who we are and what we do with the community.”
Bostick said that’s a big part of what Empty Bowls is about. It serves to not only make people aware that there are hungry people right here in Brown County but also to share even more information about their organization that seeks to meet those needs locally.
Ninety percent of the proceeds raised at the event goes back to the six hunger ministries of GSM: Food Pantry, Food for Thought, Deer Project, Pig Project, Homeless Food Boxes and Senior Care and Homebound boxes. Ten percent will be tithed to an organization that fights hunger internationally. In the past, the tithe has gone to help tsunami victims in Japan, built a clean water well in a Burundi village and provide after school snacks for a community center in Bolivia to keep kids off of the streets.
“It’s a really neat way that something we do here in Brown County can affect the lives of people around the world,” Bostick said. “We are a local mission and we love that, through this one project, we can raise awareness for what we do and support other mission work around the world.”
This year’s sponsors are United Supermarkets, Roberson Rent-All, Wal-Mart, Cosgrove Health and Safety, Citizens National Bank, Comanche Electric Co-Op, Landmark Life Insurance, Texas Bank, Encompass Home Health, TXU Energy, Big Country Ford, Bostick’s Auto and Truck Sales, Brownwood Regional Medical Center, Bruner Auto Group, Davis-Morris Funeral Home, Dr. and Mrs. Allan Cass, Howard Payne University, Attorney Jason Johnson, Kohler Company, Performance Pipe and Texas Clean.
For more information about Empty Bowls Project or Good Samaritan Ministries, please call 643-2273 or 325-203-2489.
Pictured above a young attendee of the 2014 Empty Bowls Project selects a bowl of his own. Photo by Lisa Tipton
