NOVEMBER 10, 2010

Empty Bowls tops $20,000 for Foothills Food Bank

DESERT FOOTHILLS ñ For the first time in 10 years of Empty Bowls, the $20,000 mark was topped. On Friday, Oct. 22, at the Empty Bowls Project Lunch in the center of Carefree, $21, 296 was raised. Over 700 bowls were purchased and over 500 meals, donated by the Carefree Resort & Conference Center, were served. Local artists and students created and donated all the bowls, many made with clay donated by Marjon Ceramics and Laguna Clay. The 500 water bottles were donated by Costco.

As always, 100 percent of the money raised went directly to the Foothills Food Bank.

The "Empty Bowls Project" was founded in 1991 by a group of potters in Michigan. There are now thousands of events throughout the country, and all of them are able to use the Empty Bowls designation if they agree to follow the three basic tenets:

1) everything must be donated: the bowls, food, publicity, volunteers, etc.

2) 100 percent of the proceeds must go directly to the beneficiary

3) the primary mission of the beneficiary must be to feed the hungry. Sonoran Arts League artists started creating bowls for the Waste Not Empty Bowls Event in downtown Phoenix in 1997. Carole Perry would take the bowls (about 400) down to the Arizona Center each year and work the event.

The Foothills Food Bank asked Sonoran Arts League to set up a separate event to support them in 2000 and they have been doing it ever since.

The first year, the event was held at el Pedregal with only 850 bowls. After 45 minutes, with 2 hours remaining they ran out of bowls. The Boulders had to make a lot more food and they sent someone to Basha's to buy plastic bowls.

From then on they knew they had to have a lot more bowls and a much shorter event!

Although the event is now held in the center of Carefree, Carefree Resort continues to donate the food and tables.