Huntington, W.Va. – Marshall University students are joining together to fight hunger in the Tri-State area one bowl at a time through the sixth annual Empty Bowls event.
 
Empty Bowls is a project that raises money for the Huntington Area Food Bank (HAFB) to help fight hunger. Its goal is to raise awareness throughout the community by reminding people that there are hungry people everywhere throughout the United States, according to the HAFB.
 
The HAFB serves more than 290 agencies in 17 counties including Cabell, Wayne, Putnam, and Kanawha counties in W.Va.; Lawrence County in Ohio; Boyd, Greenup, Carter, and Lawrence counties in Ky., and eight other counties in the Tri-State area. Executive Director Jon Rickey said the Empty Bowls campaign truly makes a difference in the work of the HAFB.
 
“Empty Bowls is wonderful because everyone contributes something in order to make it successful,” Rickey said.  “Whether it is public relations students at Marshall promoting and helping with the event, Keramos Potters Guild creating 1,000 bowls for sale or members of the community by attending and donating to the cause, it helps to raise awareness of just how many hungry people there are in the nation and what people can do to help.”
 
Empty Bowls is a service project that is done throughout the country. It is promoted by the Imagine Render Group, a nonprofit organization based in Burnsville, N.C.
 
The Empty Bowls campaign was first initiated in 1990 by an art teacher from Michigan, according to the Imagine Render Group. He wanted to organize a charitable event that gave students a way to make a difference. It became a class project to make ceramic bowls and organize a fundraiser where guests at which could attend, make a donation and receive their own bowl as well as a simple lunch.
 
By the next year, the concept of the fundraiser became known as Empty Bowls. It provides food and donations for food banks, soup kitchens, food pantries, emergency shelters and residential programs.
 
Since then, high schools, colleges, churches, and other nonprofit organizations across the nation have caught onto the idea of hosting yearly Empty Bowls campaigns to fight hunger in their own communities.
 


“What’s great about Empty Bowls is that every year there is a new element,” said Brooke Ash, HAFB public relations coordinator. “It becomes more challenging; it’s more creative and a smoother production. I think the people who faithfully attend every year would agree that it reaches new heights each year.”
 
Students in the W. Page Pitt School of Journalism and Mass Communications’ public relations campaigns class are working with the HAFB and Marshall University’s Keramos Student Potter’s Guild to play host to the sixth annual Empty Bowls event, April 7 from 10:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. The event will be held at the First Presbyterian Church, 1015 Fifth Ave, in Huntington.
 
Each person who gives a $12 donation receives a handcrafted bowl, and a lunch of soup, bread, and Pepsi donated by local restaurants and organizations. The idea is to have a simple meal of what resembles an actual soup kitchen.
 
The event will feature live entertainment and will also feature a silent auction, during which you will have the opportunity to bid on additional bowls, hand-blown glass, an authentic Marshall University cheerleading uniform, and signed memorabilia from Chad Pennington and Red Dawson. All proceeds from the event benefit the HAFB.


In 2008, the Empty Bowls campaign was able to raise more than nearly $10,000 for the HAFB.

For more information about the HAFB, please call Brooke Ash at (304) 523-6029 or e-mail hafbmail@hafb.org. For more information about the Empty Bowls event, call Campaign Director Meagan Sellards at (304) 412-5900 or e-mail emptybowls@marshall.edu. Erica Rife, the media representative, can be reached at (304) 360-3394, e-mail emptybowls@marshall.edu or visit www.marshall.edu/SOJMC.

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The Huntington Area Food Bank, Inc., is a private, nonprofit, charitable organization affiliated with Feeding America, the largest hunger relief agency in the United States. The HAFB is the hub in a network of food donors and more than 290 agencies that serve hungry people in West Virginia, eastern Kentucky and southeastern Ohio. The HAFB assists food pantries, soup kitchens, emergency shelters, senior citizens programs, youth programs and residential programs that directly serve the needs of the hungry. The HAFB member agencies are located in 17 counties throughout the Tri-State area. All member agencies served by the HAFB are private and nonprofit. For more information, please visit www.hafb.org.