From: Beth Parkhurst, Denise Engel, Melanie Bachmeyer, Carrie Douglas and Sarah Grey, retiring Empty Bowls steering committee members
Columbus
Each winter the annual Empty Bowls Soup Supper brings us all together as we lend our support to combating local food insecurity. Since this project was launched 21 years ago, we have now generated well over $200,000 for local food pantries. These proceeds have benefited Love Chapel, Brighter Days, Horizon House, Community Center of Hope, Turning Point and Thrive Alliance, all of whom address food insecurity in our community.
At Empty Bowls, we celebrate our community in all its diversity and generosity. Local potters produce bowls, local cooks prepare soups, breads and desserts. The best of our local musicians step up with live music and entertainment. The C4 culinary crew keeps the kitchen humming. Teams of volunteers sign up to serve food and bus tables, fetch and carry, clean and recycle. It is this shared effort, year after year, which moves us deeply. We all put aside perceived differences and work shoulder to shoulder for a common goal beyond ourselves. Thanks to Bartholomew County.
Now it is time for the greater community to play more of a leadership role and take ownership of Empty Bowls. The current team, for various personal reasons, is stepping aside and would like to see the community engaged in an effort to find a more permanent leadership location for Empty Bowls. This means that there will not be a February 2020 Empty Bowls event. If this great community event is to resume at a later date, it will be because the community steps up and new leadership is organized. Please take up the challenge, Columbus.
