Preparations for this year’s Good Samaritan Ministries’ Empty Bowls Project is well underway as painted bowls are being glazed and readying for a trip to the Kohler kilns.
This year’s Empty Bowls Project will be held from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Thursday, March 27 at the Brownwood Coliseum.
For a donation only (suggested $10 minimum), diners may choose a hand-painted ceramic bowl and enjoy a simple meal of soup, bread and water. At the end of the meal, the diner is encouraged to take the empty bowl home to serve as a reminder that there are those in our own community who have empty bowls and empty stomachs.
“The Empty Bowls Project has become the largest fundraising event that we hold all year,” said Angelia Bostick, Executive Director of Good Samaritan Ministries. “It not only raises awareness of local hunger but it brings the community together in a way that nothing else we’ve ever done has.”
The bowls are painted in advance of the event by local students, nursing home residents, church youth and children’s groups and various individuals and groups that schedule to paint at our office.
“The response was so great this year, we had to start a waiting list two weeks into painting because more people wanted to be involved than we had bowls to paint,” said Misty Bowers, Programs Manager at GSM. “Every year, it seems the excitement about the event continues to grow.”
In addition to groups painting bowls, we have local businesses that sponsor the event so everything we raise at the door goes right back into GSM’s hunger ministries: Food Pantry, Food for Thought Program, The Deer Project, Pig Project and the Senior Food Program. This year’s sponsors are Wal-Mart, Big Country Ford, Citizens National Bank, Comanche Electric Co-op, Encompass Home Health Care, Roberson Rent-All, Texas Bank, TXU Energy, Howard Payne University, Landmark Life Insurance and Doug and Sarah Chandler.
Ninety percent of everything raised at the door stays in Brown County to help local residents who are food insecure. Ten percent is tithed to an organization that fights hunger internationally. This year, as they have for the previous two, GSM will send the tithe to Food for the Hungry who has hunger programs in Africa, Asia and South America.
Other businesses also donate items to be sold in a “store” on the day of the event.
Local restaurants also donate soup for the event and students from Howard Payne University, GSM and others in the community serve as volunteers for the event.
Pre-sale tickets are available at the Good Samaritan Ministries’ office at 305 Clark Street. Tickets available prior to and at the event are donation only though there is a suggested $10 minimum.
In addition, there will be a bowl preview again this year from 9:30 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. the day of the event. For a $25 ticket, diners can have first choice of all 1,200-plus bowls before the lunch crowd hits. These preview tickets are also available at the GSM office.
Proceeds from the event will also count toward the Feinstein Challenge.
Anyone who would like more information may call 643-2273.
