Several local celebrities were hard at work Tuesday, trying their hands at making pottery bowls in advance of the popular Empty Bowls fundraiser.
The Celebrity Bowl-a-Thon was held at Lambton College's pottery studio.
Empty Bowls is marking its 14th year next month, with proceeds supporting the Inn of the Good Shepherd and the Lambton College Lion’s Heart student food bank.
Inn Executive Director Myles Vanni said the concept was started many years ago by high school students from Michigan.
"They wanted to look for a way to raise money to help support their local food bank," said Vanni. "The idea is that there are a lot of empty bowls around this world, where people just won't eat. That's the whole premise of making pottery bowls and having soup for people to enjoy."
Vanni said the demand at their food bank is constantly growing.
They're helping about 2,200 people a month, compared to about 1,850 a year and a half ago.
"People know when you go to the grocery store how much your bill is," he said. "So, we're seeing about a 20 per cent increase from a year ago in the number of people accessing the food bank just because their food dollars don't stretch enough now. There are people we've never seen before that are in that really tight position. On the other hand, we have less food donations coming in. People, when they're grocery shopping, they don't have as many dollars left over to put items in the food barrels on the way out. These donations will help us to do that food purchasing. Prior to COVID, we would spend about $5,000 a month purchasing food, and we're seeing an average of about $20,000 now just from the higher costs, more people accessing it, and less donations coming in."
More experienced potters of Lambton College and the Sarnia Lambton Potters’ Guild will create over 400 pottery bowls which guests will take home as a reminder of what the event is all about—recognizing world hunger and helping to fight it locally.
Students from Lambton College’s Culinary Management program along with several local restaurants will make and donate the delectable soups for the event.
Tickets for the Empty Bowls dinner, being held April 11 at the Lambton College Event Centre, are $40 and include a professional handmade bowl, soup, bread, and coffee or tea.
Sittings will be at 5 p.m. and 7 p.m.
They can be purchased at the Inn of the Good Shepherd, from Lambton College’s Counselling Department, or by visiting www.theinnsarnia.ca. The celebrity bowls will be up for auction, and there will be live entertainment and games. This year’s goal is to raise $12,000, and to date the event has brought in over $125,000.
