March is just around the corner bringing with it Spring Break, Good Friday, Easter with the empty tomb and the Empty Bowls Project at Good Samaritan Ministries.
The seventh annual Empty Bowls Project will be held from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. and 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. on Thursday, March 24 at the Brownwood Coliseum. Tickets will be $10 for each session. Tickets can be purchased online beginning March 1 at goodsambwd.org or at the GSM office at 305 Clark Street in downtown Brownwood. Good Samaritan board members will have tickets and will be selling them around town prior to the event. Tickets will also be available at the door on March 24.
“We are so excited about this year’s Empty Bowls Project!” said Angelia Bostick, Executive Director of GSM. “Our focus will be on raising awareness of hunger issues and, through ticket sales and sponsorships, raising funds to actively fight against it through our hunger ministries.”
The whole premise of the event is to raise awareness of hunger needs in our own community. However, hunger doesn’t end at the county line so a 10% tithe of all the money collected at the event will be made to an international hunger relief organization.
At the event, diners can choose a hand-painted ceramic bowl, and then enjoy a simple meal of soup provided by local restaurants and water. The empty bowl serves as a reminder of those in our own community and around the world who have empty bowls and empty stomachs.
The Empty Bowls Project began nationally more than 25 years ago as a grassroots event in the northeast. Originally, and at most events around the country, the bowls are hand-crafted by local artists. However, Bostick said they like to be a little more inclusive at GSM and, since there is not a large group of artists who create pottery in this area, they decided to order the bisque bowls that just have to be painted and fired.
“By doing this we could send the bowls to local junior and high school art classes and nursing homes,” Bostick said. “It’s just another way of giving more people an opportunity to be a part of the mission work happening at GSM.”
Having the schools paint bowls serves another purpose as well. The Food for Thought Program provides weekend food to students on 14 campuses in Brown County. This gives students an active role in the fight against hunger in their own school district.
Bostick said that partnering with nursing homes allows them to engage yet another segment of the local community in the fight against hunger.
“We love being able to include so many people in our community to raise money for our hunger ministries,” Bostick said. “In year’s past we had been able to host others in the community to paint bowls at our offices, but we had fewer bowls to paint this year.”
Bostick said she is excited about this year’s project and about getting back to the root of the Empty Bowls Project: hunger awareness.
“Hunger in Brown County is a very real thing, and we are thrilled to give people an opportunity to very tangibly touch the lives of our friends and neighbors at risk of hunger right here in our own community,” Bostick said.
There are still sponsorship spots available from $300 all the way up to $2,000. If anyone would like to be a sponsor of this event, please contact Kayla Hullum at 643-2273 or 325-203-2184 by Wednesday, February 19 so she can add you to the list.
All of the money raised will go to fight hunger. Ninety percent of the total raised at the event stays here at Good Samaritan Ministries for our six hunger ministries: The Food Pantry, Food for Thought Program, The Deer Project, The Pig Project, the Homebound Program and Homeless Food Boxes. Ten percent of the total raised will go to an international hunger relief program. In the past, the tithe has gone to help tsunami victims in Japan through Samaritan’s Purse and to build a clean water well in a village in Burundi through Food for the Hungry. This is the only time we ever send money outside of Brown County.
For more information about the Empty Bowls Project or Good Samaritan Ministries, please call 643-2273 or visit the website at goodsambwd.org.
Pictured above and below are photos of the 2015 event.
