Howard Payne University students, faculty and staff members joined together on Friday, February 25, to paint bowls for the upcoming Empty Bowls event sponsored by Good Samaritan Ministries. Ann Smith, chair of HPU’s Department of Art, hosted the bowl-painting activity and provided instruction for volunteers.
Empty Bowls will be held on Thursday, March 31 at the Brownwood Depot from 11 am to 7 pm. Soup donated from area restaurants will be served in the hand-painted bowls. A silent auction will also be held throughout the day along with live music.
The cost will be $10 per person. Ninety percent of the proceeds will go for local needs, while a tithe of 10 percent will go to help address international hunger needs through Heifer International.
Katie Curry, part-time youth ministry graduate program assistant at HPU, is assisting in the planning of Empty Bowls. She said, “Community involvement is so important to the effectiveness of this event because, not only does it raise money to provide food for the hungry people in our community, it brings awareness that we are living among those people. Awareness can lead people to act, and we’re hoping that Empty Bowls will encourage our community by showing that we can do something to help.”
Community members interested in contributing to Empty Bowls can get involved in several ways. Volunteers are needed to assist in a variety of areas on the event day. Those interested can contact Dan Humeniuk, chair of HPU’s Department of Criminal Justice, Social Work and Sociology and assistant professor of social work, at dhumeniuk@hputx.edu.
Additionally, monetary donations to support the project can be sent to the Good Samaritan. For more information, contact Good Samaritan Ministries at 325-643-2273 or by email at goodsam@bwoodtx.com.
This is the second Empty Bowls event to be held in Brownwood. Empty Bowls is a grassroots project of The Imagine/Render Group, a 501(c) 3 non-profit organization dedicated to positive and lasting social change through the arts, education and projects that build community.
Pictured above: Katie Curry, part-time youth ministry graduate program assistant, and HPU senior Molly Gore paint bowls for the Empty Bowls project on March 31. Photo by HPU student Hannah Pippen.
