We are a grassroots all-volunteer project to help end food insecurity. The Empty Bowls Project was created in 1990 by an art teacher, John Hartom. The premise is simple...artisans make bowls, folks make food, and then there is an event. Worldwide all of the events are different and unique. They all share the commonality of donating all of their proceeds to a local organization that deals with hunger.

The Empty Bowls Project of Paducah is the brain child of ceramicist, Michael Terra of Terra Cottage Studios. Upon moving to Paducah, through the Artist Relocation Program, he knew that he wanted to create an Empty Bowls Event as a way to give to back to his new community. He chose our local food kitchen, Community Kitchen, as the recipient for the proceeds of the event. Since its inception in 2010, The Empty Bowls Project of Paducah has raised more than $200,000 for the Community Kitchen. That money helps support the cost of more than 70,000 meals per year

Over the course of two decades Terra Cottage has donated boxes of bowls to about 11 different projects organized by friends in places like Milwaukee, Appleton, Dallas, Troy and Springfield (to name a few), and, since it’s inception here in Paducah, our Empty Bowls project has helped to start other projects, not only in surrounding counties like Marshall, Graves, Ballard, Lyons, Livingston and Carlisle, but we also helped start the Providence, RI project which benefits the Rhode Island Food Bank. We send them bowls too.

The Empty Bowls Project of Paducah is under the umbrella of the Greater Paducah Sustainability Project. Thanks to GPSP we have found ourselves a lovely home out of the rain.