Filling bowls one evening will fill bellies year round
Empty Bowls is back as a community celebration as well as a fundraiser after two years of COVID-19 interruption. It will be held from 4 to 7 p.m. Friday, Oct. 21, in Wesley Hall at First United Methodist Church, 175 N. Main St., Ashland.
“In 2020 and 2021, we delivered bowls to the homes of ticket purchasers,” said Herbert Rothschild, event chair. “That was Pam Marsh’s idea, and it was a good one, because just as she predicted, people were eager to help out in hard times. We raised money, but we lost the sense of celebration. I missed that.”
Empty Bowls raises money for local nonprofit organizations that address food insecurity in Ashland. This year proceeds will be shared among Uncle Foods Diner, Food Angels and the Southern Oregon Jobs with Justice free meals program. Peace House, which runs Uncle Foods Diner, is organizer of the event.
Here’s how the event works. For $25, attendees pick out a bowl made by area potters and take it to the soup line, where it’s filled with soup donated by local restaurants and served by prominent members of the community.
Tickets may be purchased online at peacehouse.net or at the door on the evening of the event.
Servers this year are Ashland City Council members Gina DuQuenne, Tonya Graham, Stephen Jensen and Stefani Seffinger, Oregon circuit judges Benjamin Bloom and Joe Charter, Oregon State Sen. Jeff Golden, Oregon State Rep. Pam Marsh, Ashland Chief of Police Tighe O’Meara, Ashland.news Executive Editor Bert Etling, and Ashland civic leaders Kathryn and Barry Thalden.
Among the restaurants donating soups this year are Greenleaf, Simple Café and C St Bistro in Jacksonville. Freshly baked bread is being donated by Philippe the Baker and several Ashland bakeries. Cookies are again being made and donated by the women of the K1P1 Knitting Club.
Peace House is especially indebted to generous sponsors T.C. Chevy, The Haines Philanthropic Foundation, and The Earth and Humanity Foundation. It is also indebted to the members of Clayfolk, who threw the bowls and contributed other kinds of ceramics. Those mugs, serving platters and vases will be displayed for sale during the event.
“We continue to see our numbers go up,” said Kerul Dyer, director of Uncle Food’s Diner, which has been feeding Ashland’s poorest and unhoused residents for 30 years. “We rely on the support of our neighbors to meet the challenge, and Empty Bowls brings people together to do just that.”
For more information about Empty Bowls, email info@peacehouse.net or call 541-482-9625.
Email Ashland.news Executive Editor Bert Etling at betling@ashland.news or call or text him at 541-631-1313.
