The Empty Bowls Project of Paducah is a grassroots, all-volunteer project with the goal of fighting food insecurity. It hosts an Empty Bowls event on Saturday, August 24, at the Carroll Convention Center in Paducah. WKMS Morning Edition host Daniel Hurt spoke to Michael Terra, organizer of the project, ceramicist, and owner of Terra Cottage Studios, about the upcoming event.
The Empty Bowls Project was created in 1990 by an art teacher, John Hartom, with the idea of the community coming together to create an event by utilizing their unique skills where artisans create unique bowls, and people donate to the cause, eating local food and supporting nonprofits that fight food insecurity and poverty. Since its inception, the Empty Bowls Project has spread across the country and world with no specific structure other than the commonality of donating their proceeds to a local organization that deals with hunger. Empty Bowls Paducah has raised more than $200,000 for the Community Kitchen.
At the upcoming event at the convention center, Terra said, "We're going to give you the best possible lunch experience you'll ever have in Paducah. Doors open at 11 am for ticket sales, and then the event begins at 11:30. We'll have live musicians and all that other good stuff to entertain folks while you're waiting and visiting with your neighbors."
"When you walk through those open doors, you will be faced with a gallery of handmade ceramic bowls," Terra continued. "These are all bowls made by people in this community, with a couple of exceptions, and you, with your ticket in hand, get to choose any bowl you like. When you get through all of the bowls, you will be surrounded by 25 different restaurants from our community that have donated food, persons, and talent. You get to take your new bowl to any of these places and have them put something delicious in it. You can do this ten times before you leave the room with just that one ticket. I don't know if they use the word smorgasbord anymore, but the best smorgasbord lunch buffet."
Bowls and Food
In addition to browsing 10 of the 25 participating restaurants, participants can donate to each restaurant's donation jar. The booth with the most money wins the People's Choice award. "We've got Artisan Kitchen, Big Eds, Burger Theory, Burrito After Dark, Cheddar Scratch Kitchen, Domino's Pizza, El Torito, Etcetera Coffeehouse, Pepsi, Fresh Foodies, the G&O Grill, the Gold Rush Cafe, Mellow Mushroom, McDonald's, Munal's Donuts, O'Charley's, Panera Bread, Papa John's Pizza, Penn Station, Sissy's Cafe, Mi Lindo Michoacan, Starbucks, and Subway. So, quite a bit," Terra said.
"This whole thing was started nationally by two art teachers and their kids, and it was very modest," Terra continued. "They made some bowls and a big pot of soup, and people came and got the bowls and fill of soup. Then, they donated the money to a school lunch program. From then, and it's been about 35 years, it has grown up as a completely independent, grassroots event all over the country, and every community that has an Empty Bowls Project is doing it their own way. But if you're going to use the name Empty Bowls, you've got to do two things. First, you've got to be making handmade bowls. Second, all of the money needs to go to some local food insecurity project."
Who Empty Bowls Helps
"In our case, we donate to a local organization called the Community Kitchen," Terra explained, "which is currently serving between 500 and 700 meals every weekday to anybody who needs them. They do this all year. They've also got a warming station in the winter and a cooling station in the summer, and they've got shower facilities, laundry facilities, and they do all sorts of other really important community infrastructure."
"We are also highlighting another amazing local institution, Paducah Cooperative Ministries, which takes care of the more long-term food insecurity issues. They're really our local food pantry for folks. They give people monthly food, and they work with some of our big groceries and things like that to collect food, box it up, package it, and serve it to another 800 families every month. They also have emergency transitional housing opportunities for people, so if something terrible happens, you and your family have a place to stay for up to six months." Proceeds from the $18 tickets go directly toward these organizations.
This Weekend
Terra said he hopes people come out Saturday, August 24, to the Empty Bowls Project to support a good cause and take home something memorable, like a handmade bowl. "The bowls are all sorts of different colors with different designs and textures," Terra said. "They're all designed to be kind of individual serving bowls. For the silent auction, we've got larger dramatic bowls that you can bid on."
"We've got the bowls, the silent auction, and the food. You can also donate at any time by going online to our website and help out that way. We've got a group of neighbors that get together throughout the year to make bowls and organize things and make all the infrastructure that allows us to pull this off. Because it's 100% volunteer, every dollar that comes in is actually feeding one of our neighbors, which I'm a big fan of."
The 2024 Empty Bowls Project takes place on Saturday, August 24, at the Carroll Convention Center in Paducah. More information, including how to purchase tickets, can be found on the Empty Bowls Project of Paducah website here.
