The Rocket

Issue date: 10/5/07 Section: Focus

Media Credit: Submitted Photo Jamey Clark, the graduate assistant and team leader for the Human Services team last year, picks out a handcrafted bowl to use during the Empty Bowls dinner. This year's dinner will be held from 3:30 to 7 p.m. on Oct. 15 in the MPR of the union. [Click to enlarge]

Hunger is a problem that many SRU students have never had to seriously deal with, but for some individuals within the Western Pennsylvania region, it's a reality.

On Oct. 15, the Institute for Community, Service-Learning and Nonprofit Leadership, along with the help from the art department, AVI Foodsystems Inc., and the Macoskey Center, will hold their 12th annual Empty Bowls dinner.

This event will not only raise money for area food banks and food programs, but also raise awareness on the issue of world hunger.

The Empty Bowls project has been a staple at SRU for more than a decade, and in the past has not only provided 300 Slippery Rock area families with food, but has also eliminated the waiting list of senior citizens in Butler County who are in need of a good meal.

While the dinner itself will be held on Oct. 15, the event has been in production for several weeks, with many organizations preparing for the dinner.

First, the Empty Bowls project starts with handcrafted bowls being made from scratch by students in the art department. Once dried, SRU students decorate the bowls during an event called "All Night Bowling."

Then during the Empty Bowls dinner, the finished bowls are filled with various soups containing ingredients grown and donated by local farmers while patrons are reminded what it is like to eat in a soup kitchen.

When the event is complete, all profits raised by the Empty Bowls dinner are sent to local food banks and food programs, such as the Feed My Sheep food bank in Slippery Rock, the Butler County Area Agency on Aging and the food programs at the I-Care House in New Castle, Pa.

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