“Empty Bowls” is an international grassroots effort to fight hunger. The 7th Annual Extra Table Empty Bowls fundraiser will be held at Delta Arts Alliance in Cleveland on October 23rd. Ticketed patrons receive a delicious meal of soup, bread, dessert and a drink. Patrons also take home a one-of-a-kind handcrafted bowl as a reminder of those hungry in the Delta whose bowls are empty.
Funds raised from this event will provide food to Delta-area food pantries and soup kitchens, including Caring Hands (Itta Bena), Clarksdale Care Station, Hearty Helpings Food Pantry (Greenville), Lexington Food Pantry, Helping Hands (Belzoni), Helping Hands (Cleveland), Robert Neil Food Pantry (Charleston), St. Vincent De Paul (Greenville), Tutwiler Community Education Center, and the Statesman’s Shelf (on the campus of Delta State University).
“For the past six years, DAA has been the host site for the ‘Empty Bowls’ fundraiser for Extra Tables, which is a non-profit out of Hattiesburg, which provides for food pantries in fifty-one Mississippi counties,” says Dawn Ales, Executive Director of the DAA. “The revenue made from ‘Empty Bowls’ goes directly back to food pantries across the area including two in Bolivar County.”
This year local elementary students around Bolivar County are creating the bowls which will be used for the event.
“We asked our local Bolivar County civic clubs if they would like to help with the costs associated with this endeavor, and they certainly came through,” says Ales. “The Cleveland Exchange Club, The Rotary Club, and the Cleveland’s Women’s Club all offered to support what we’re doing. The ladies from the Junior Auxiliary and the Cleveland’s Women’s Club are also helping at the school sites with the project. The sponsors for Extra Table are covering the rest of the expenses.”